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The Monster (Photo Courtesy of George E. Norkus/Flickr)
Phil Kessel made a somewhat triumphant return to the NHL.
He didn’t score a goal, but did everything in his capacity to try to.
Fans of the team surely must be impressed. Kessel was a shot machine Tuesday night in the 2-1 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning—he produced a total of 10.
The team doesn’t seem to be in such dire straits anymore. After the most horrendous start in team history, the Leafs seem to be, slowly but surely, rebounding.
Following their first victory of the season against the Anaheim Ducks, the Leafs collected a point in each of their next four games. They are working on a 180 degree turn. Six points in five games isn’t fantastic, but it is certainly better than one point in eight.
And Phil Kessel has yet to score a goal. I suppose things are looking up, right?
November is looking much more promising than the month of October.
Perhaps I was jumping the gun when I suggested that Ron Wilson should be fired.
Tomas Kaberle continues to wow Leafs fans with his incredible offensive output. He has scored 17 points thus far, 12 of which came since the team’s first win. Those are gamer stats.
Speaking of gamers, it can be argued that the Leafs have found a legitimate Number One goalie in Jonas Gustavsson. Aside from giving up goals against the Washington Capitals and four goals against the Dallas Stars in an overtime loss, the Monster has only let in three goals or less in his other starts. Most of those goals can arguably be shared with poor defensive play.
The Leafs now share the worst points total (7) in the NHL with the surprisingly hapless Carolina Hurricanes. When it was once lonely at the bottom, the Leafs have made their way up to some company.
Phil Kessel image courtesy of Wikipedia.org
The team is obviously not yet firing on all cylinders. Give Kessel some time to mesh with his new teammates and he should begin to produce.
If the D stays out of the penalty box, more scoring chances should arise.
If Gustavsson continues to play as he has been, crown him as a legitimate starter.
If Kaberle continues at the rate he has been chipping in, thank your lucky stars that he wasn’t traded.
I still don’t think that the Leafs will contend for a playoff spot—after all, they have only won one game.
But, I’m pretty sure that Maple Leafs fans will breathe a collective sigh of relief if they don’t have to watch the Boston Bruins draft Taylor Hall in next year’s entry draft with their first overall pick.
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