Coming into this game, the New York Rangers have yet to win a game while on the road. The Maple Leafs always seem to be the answer to slumps. Whether it be first career goals, first goals in umpteen games, or first win in a while. Will this game be the answer for the Rangers?

The game started off pretty evenly. The Leafs, while not looking as good as last night in Buffalo, still seemed to have their defensive game intact. The shots in the period were 11-9 in favour of Toronto.. so far so good. This marks the second game that the Leafs had a full roster, and we are all hoping that Buffalo was not a fluke.

The second period was completely different; at least in the beginning. The Rangers rode the Avery train and scored two goals in the first 3 minutes. The first occurred at 1:43 when Avery passed the puck out from behind the net to a streaking Brendan Shanahan, who snapped a shot over Toskala’s stick side. The second happened 43 seconds later, and this time Avery got the goal himself. The Leafs settled back in to a defensive game and kept the Rangers to those two goals. At 16:54, the Leafs struck for the first time. Antropov dropped the puck back for Alexei Ponikarovsky, who slapped home his first of the game, and his fifth goal of the year. Exactly 2 minutes later, at 18:54, Ponikarovsky struck again, tying the game at 2 goals apiece.

The third period was tightly played, with the Leafs out shooting the Rangers 10-6. Toskala held his ground and made some great saves, but the Maple Leafs could not get it done at the other end. This games goes to a shootout. Exactly what we need…

Antropov is up first. Skates in, shoots…. saved. First up for the Rangers is Brendan Shanahan. He grabs the puck, skates into the zone, fires, scores. Sundin has to score now to give the Leafs a chance. He skates in, and fires in high. Marcel Hossa steps up to the line. He starts, skates in, dekes… Toskala attempts a poke check, fails, and the puck is roofed to win the game.

Why don’t the Leafs ever deke when in a shootout? Most goals are scored on dekes, but we always seem to want to shoot the puck. I understand placing the ‘hot’ players in the shootout, but why don’t we give players like Tlusty, Stajan and Steen an opportunity? They seem to be the most creative puckhandlers during the games, let’s see what they can do in the shootout.