Maple Leafs Get Back On Track In Oil Country

The Toronto Maple Leafs were in Oil Country tonight to face the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place. In net they were up against Jeff Deslauriers, who has been one of the league's hottest goaltenders as of late. However, he was no match for the offensive storm the Maple Leafs threw at him, and the Leafs cruised to a 5-2 victory. The story of the game though, was the incredible play of Jason Blake. Blake was scratched from the Leafs lineup in Tuesday's matchup against the Calgary Flames, and made no attempt to hide his frustration in the media. He was visibly angry with this decision. Tonight though, he finally seemed to get the message Ron Wilson has been trying to send him, and his play was downright outstanding. I'll get back to this later though.

The Maple Leafs did not look like they would win this game early on. Quite frankly, their play in the 1st period was sloppy, unorganized, and just plain boring. They looked like the same team that had come out flat in Calgary, and they failed to sustain anything that could be considered pressure in the attacking zone. The Oilers dominated puck possession, and took a 1-0 lead on a powerplay goal. I was quite relieved the Leafs were able to go into the 1st intermission down by only a goal, and Vesa Toskala kept this game close through the 1st period. Toskala looked more comfortable in his crease tonight, and was tested with some difficult saves. Fortunately he came through.

The 2nd period was all Toronto however. I don't know what happened in the Maple Leafs dressing room, but for the first time in their tour of the West, they came out playing with some real energy. Thomas Kaberle got the equalizer for the Leafs on a powerplay goal. Kaberle ripped a beautiful shot from the point that found its way past a screened Jeff Deslauriers. Barely two minutes later, on yet another powerplay, Thomas Kaberle again fired a shot from the point. Only this time the puck was deflected past Deslauriers by Nikolai Kulemin who was stationed in front of the crease. Two quick goals on almost identical plays gave the Maple Leafs a sudden 2-1 lead. This was Kulemin's 3rd goal of the season, and he has been building a point streak of his own as of late. While his linemates Nik Hagman and Mikahil Grabovski are scoring goals left and right, Kulemin has been quietly racking up assists. Im sure it felt good for him though to finally put another one in the net.

Edmonton briefly tied the game back up when Ethan Moreau banged in a rebound past a sprawling Vesa Toskala. However, Nik Antropov gave the lead right back to the Maple Leafs on a perfectly placed wrist shot right before the 2nd came to a close. 3-2 was the score heading into the 2nd intermission, in favor of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The 3rd period was all about the redemption of Jason Blake. He looked downright fast tonight, but what was most impressive about him was he finally started making passes, rather than fire weak shots on net with no chance of beating the goalie. It turns out that Blake is actually capable of setting up plays with perfect precision. Who knew? Its been so long since Ive seen him pass the puck, that I had no idea how good he was at it. My words won't do it justice, so if you want to see just how great his playmaking was tonight you should find a video clip. He slid two great passes to Ian White and Mikhail Grabovski, both of whom buried the puck into the back of the net with sniper-like shots. It was good to see Blake find his game, and he was smiling about it in a post-game interview with Leafs TV. I hope this is the start of something for him. Tonight's game will hopefully boost his confidence, and if it does, the Maple Leafs will have yet another offensive weapon. Jason Blake has taken alot of criticism for his bad play thus far, but I really want to see him turn it around. Tonight he took a big first step in that direction, and was a huge reason why the Toronto Maple Leafs won this game.

Overall a great team effort. Once that ugly first period ended, everything went right for the Maple Leafs. The defense played well, and Luke Schenn and Carlo Colaiacovo in particular were solid in their own end. This was the first game I have seen Colaiacovo really make an impressive statement. Toskala made the difficult saves when he needed to, and the Leafs offense once again fired on all cylinders. Also, much thanks to all the Toronto Maple Leafs fans out in Edmonton. Rexall Place looked like our home-away-from-home tonight with so much blue and white in the crowd. It was exciting to see the team win one for you guys, and give you some bragging rights out in Alberta.