A New Look

Carlyle behind the bench last night against the Canadiens

The Maple Leafs had good leadership with the new Randy Carlyle, and defeated the Canadiens 3-1 last night, with Toronto taking 42 shots at Carey Price, compared to Montreal's 22. Compared to what we saw of Wilson for most of his 310 games, Carlyle was lively, up and down the bench, and did a great job in his first day on the job. Grabovski certainly had a great showing, collecting the game winner, and then his 20^th of the season. Toronto has a legitimate chance of still making the playoffs, though they've got to pass 4 teams in the standings in order to do it, Buffalo, Tampa, Washington, and Winnipeg, who they sit only 3 points behind. It's a tight race.

Gustavsson failing to stop Erik Cole's wide open shot in the first period. Cole scored his 23rd goal of the season on this one.

One thing Carlyle needs to improve first is the play of Toronto's defense, and their recent shaky goaltending. The first few minutes looked like a complete joke last night, not only did Gustavsson slip all on his own against the boards, he tipped the puck right in front of his open net! Had to have been the biggest clown moment of the year, I thought I was already watching SNL at 7:30 or so. If defenceman like Schenn flub their passes, and Gustavsson continues to misplay the puck, or keep falling over, Toronto, as Bob Cole once said, “won't last three games!” (in the playoffs, of course if they make it)

Speaking of Buffalo a minute ago, Vancouver sure looked like a joke in the first period last night, especially for the best team in the league right now. Toronto has to play Buffalo twice more before the end of the season, so they'll have to deal with Ville Leino, of course if he's still scoring like that in a month.

Grabovski scored two goals last night, joining Lupul and Kessel  this season at the 20-goal mark. Clarke MacArthur is next up to potentially reach the mark, currently sitting at 19 goals.