Leafs 10 v. Bruins 2: Not An Error

Game Recap

When the United States beat England in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil 1-0 British papers assumed that the score that they received was a typo and they published the final score as 10-1 for the limeys. After this game Bruins fans would have killed to have an arrogant editor 'correct' the typo in the score. Unfortunately, that score is not a misprint. The Leafs, of whom there is never any shortage of "Where will the goals come from?" stories, scored TEN goals with Darcy Tucker, Kyle Wellwood, Alexei Ponikarovsky, and Nik Antropov [a combined 100+ points] out of the lineup. From where indeed.

Since this was another LeafsTV blackout (2-0 so far in games that I cannot see) I only got to watch the highlights on YouTube. Apparently, the game was tight and the Bruins were the better team during the first period but Andrew 'All of TO hates me' Raycroft kept the score at 2-1 until the buds could explode for five goals in the second period including three in 42 seconds which is not even fast enough to be a club record. The Leafs sealed the game with four more in the third. I'd love to write more but a Bruins' fan wrote the best summary of the game.

The big story of the game was Alexander Steen who potted his first career hat-trick and added two assists to increase his points total by 50% in one game. Of course, I knew that his increased time with Sundin would help him to exploit his offensive skills:

As for Steen, he put up 18-27-45 last year and would be much closer to those numbers this year if he had played with Mats again instead of having to play defensively with Peca and Kilger for so long. Since he has returned to Mats' wing he has begun to show the offensive potential that made keeping him a good move.

That outburst gave him 5-2-7 in the five games since he was promoted to Sundin's wing along with Jeff O'Neill. That is the level of play that he will have to display until the cavalry can arrive. Next up is a live account of the Sabres game on Saturday from the Best Seats in The House (or right next to them).