Nazem Kadri is the Real Deal

Kadri celebrates his goal against the Buffalo Sabres, Januar y 21, 2013. (Photo by Nathan Denette)

The opening goal of the season on Saturday night in Montreal, and a goal to keep the Leafs in contention in Monday night's game against Buffalo. After two games this season, Nazem Kadri has scored 66.6% of the Maple Leafs' goals this season. Yes, that is a silly statistic, but Kadri has been given almost no chance to prove himself in the past three years. Now he's off to a hot start before everyone else.

An above point-per-game player while in the OHL, and nearly one while with the Marlies the past two years, Kadri only played in 51 NHL games before this season; a single game in 2009-10, 29 games in 2010-11, and 21 games in 2011-12. Although he has a little ways to go, Kadri shows superb promise in the near future.

Kadri's goal on Monday was the lone Toronto goal of the night. Kessel had 7 shots on Ryan Miller throughout the game, Phaneuf had 6, Lupul had 4, and Liles had 4. While none of them scored a single goal, Kadri got one past Miller with just one shot on net. Though it isn't the most fair comparison - Kadri essentially had an open net after Kostka's weak shot - Kadri has scored two goals this season nonetheless, while the "stars" of the Leafs have not. What has Toronto been missing all this time? Nazem Kadri of course. I've believed in him, Don Cherry's believed in him, and we're still here. Ron Wilson and Brian Burke are not.

Also, I'm impressed by the work by Ben Scrivens early this season. With a GAA of 1.53 and a save percentage of .929, things are looking good so far for the Leafs' "backup" goaltender. With Mark Fraser also in the lineup Monday night, and even getting in a fight, the young members of the Leafs roster are leading the way in this silly season.

Scrivens stopped 18 of 20 shots faced in Monday night's game against Buffalo. (Photo by Nathan Denette)

The 2013 NHL Season Begins

Kadri's powerplay goal early in the first period helped lift Toronto to their first win of the season. (Photo by  Richard Wolowicz)

Wow. Saturday night is back to its good ol’ self.

The Maple Leafs beat the Canadiens 2-1 in what felt like a relatively boring game to watch. In perfect fashion to slap Ron Wilson and Brian Burke in the face, Nazem Kadri scored Toronto’s opening goal on the season, at 4:51 of the first period. There was a fairly good fight between Mike Brown and Brandon Prust shortly after the goal. (I thought for sure it’d be Colton Orr in the fight, since it was his first time on the ice in ages)

Overall I’m pretty impressed with Toronto tonight in their opening game. (THEY WON!!! :D yayyy) I’m also happy with the performance of Ben Scrivens, with a save percentage of .955, and a completely unexpected starting goaltender in the first place! I look forward to seeing him play this season, even if he occasionally takes a spill and sits down behind his net…I also was impressed with rookie defenceman Michael Kostka, I mean, it’s your first NHL game and you play with PHANEUF for God’s sake! I hope Carlyle keeps Kostka on the ice, he went beyond impressing me. Kostka was second in ice-time for Maple Leafs defencemen tonight, there’s a reason why he played so much.

Mike Brown and Brandon Prust, about the best photo of a hockey fight you'll see in your life... (Photo by  Francois Lacasse)

Overall, a great start for Toronto, hope to see the same hard work out of them on Monday night! (Hopefully, the next 47 games won’t be as slow as tonight’s was at times; the players have got to get back into it!)

On a completely unrelated note, Canadiens captain Brian Gionta got the goal that his son challenged him to score, so kudos to him! A high note for the Bell Centre during the game…

YAYYYYYYY

And who would’ve guessed it? THE LOCKOUT IS OVER!

Get pumped for lots of blog posts about the Toronto Maple Leafs! You don’t know how surprised I am that I get to spend spring semester watching hockey!

Well, we don't need to watch Joey Crabb fight for the Leafs anymore...he's in Washington now