Live Game Blog: Maple Leafs @ Canadiens

7:35 pm – As part of their centennial celebrations, the Canadiens decided to honour their rivalry with the Maple Leafs this evening. It started with a compilation video on the scoreboard of “several of the players who have made the rivalry special” – such as some French Canadians who played for the Leafs (Felix Potvin) and players who starred for both teams, like Vinny Damphousse. While I think this is a very classy idea from a first-rate organization, it is a bit odd that this part of the evening is televised. On the other hand, it is neat seeing the players stand behind the blue line and sit on the boards, watching this video along with the fans. Only Andrei Kostitsyn seems to have better places to be.

Vincent Damphousse, Felix Potvin (who is 4 years younger than Curtis Joseph), Pete Mahovlich, Wendel Clark (who gave a rowdy fist pump), Steve Schutt, Borje Salming, Phil Goyette, Darryl Sittler, Guy Lapointe, Johnny Bower, and Jean Beliveau were all in attendance. Beliveau got a standing ovation from fans of both teams, including a usually reticent Ron Wilson.

FIRST PERIOD!!!

7:50 – With the opening faceoff, this one is underway! Good to see Matt Stajan back in the lineup for the Leafs, they need his hustle and leadership.

7:53 – Mikhail Grabovski is playing with Andre Deveaux and Niklas Hagman. Deveaux gets tangled up with Max Pacioretty and gets a hooking penalty.

7:54 – Pacioretty and Yannick Weber, the German-Swiss defenceman, are on the top power play unit for the Habs, showing Coach Guy Carbonneau’s frustration with his teams’ 27th ranked powerplay. Apparently the move pays off, as Sergei Kostitsyn taps one into the empty net behind the absurdly out-of-place Toskala. 1-0 Canadiens – For the 28th time this season, the Leafs have allowed the first goal in a game.

7:56 – Maxim Lapierre hits Stajan from behind – Leafs powerplay.

7:58 – On the 2nd powerplay unit, Grabovski is still getting boo-ed by the Canadiens fans every time he touches the puck. There has to be a reason why the Canadiens hate him so much. Allegedly, he left the team last season when they were on a road-trip in Phoenix. He went to visit his agent in Los Angeles because he wasn’t getting played and he wanted to be traded. Either way, both Grabovski and the entire Canadiens roster took it very personally.

7:59 – Lapierre gets sprung as he comes out of the box. Jeff Finger tries to hold the puck inside the Canadiens' blueline, but it bounces right to Lapierre, about 10 feet behind. Ian White gets back to prevent a 2-on-0, but Lapierre looks to shoot the whole way. He blows it right past Toskala. 2-0 Canadiens.

8:04 – Weber gets a slashing call. Bad penalty by the Swiss-German. Aaand there’s a quick goal, right off the faceoff. Domenic Moore wins the faceoff cleanly and Tomas Kaberle snipes one right through traffic. 2-1 Canadiens.
One thing that can be said for the Leafs is that they have a couple of solid centres. Matt Stajan and Moore are both reliable draw-men – the only problem is that they’re both 3rd liners.

8:10 – A replay showing Tom Kostopoulos’ dirty hits from the last time these two teams met. He took Mike Van Ryn out for a month on a hit from behind. Tonight, he gets tangled up with Jonas Frogren, and gets the worst of it – Frogren is a tough customer. Kostopoulos is in pain on the bench but looks like he’ll be back.

8:13 – The Kostitsyn combo comes buzzing around the Maple Leafs net. Toskala kicks out an ugly rebound to one of them. I don’t know which one, because I can’t tell the difference. Toskala is really fighting the puck tonight.

8:19 – Joe Bowen has now given stats on 4 different occasions regarding Tomas Kaberle’s success against the Montreal Canadiens. Please shoot me.

8:20 – Brad May makes a splash in his 1st period as a Maple Leaf – he goes bowling and takes out 2 Canadiens who don’t have the puck and narrowly misses a third. Charging – make that 2123 career PIMs. Toronto is going to like this guy.

8:23 – 1st punches of the night are thrown, and neither May nor Mikhail Grabovski are involved! Pacioretty takes a few swipes at Toskala after he covers the puck, so Ian White gives him a face-wash.

8:25 – Melt of Grabovski getting it from the Canadiens last time these two teams met in November. Something happened to cause this amount of hate between Grabo and the Habs, but nobody is talking (or those who do all the talking – Grabovski and the Kostitsyns – do not speak English, so I can't translate). Last game, Saku Koivu – one of the more gentlemanly players in the league - sucker punched him.

8:26 – Kostopoulous sucks Toskala out of the net on a wrap-around and Guillaume Latendresse taps it into the empty net. This is the 2nd goal scored tonight in which Toskala is not in the crease when the goal is scored. Where is Justin Pogge when you need him? 3-1 Canadiens. Also, I just Googled Guillaume Latendresse and that is what came up. I'm afraid to Google Matt Stajan.

8:28 – End of the period, and there is another scrum. Deveaux is the instigator of this one as he hits Komisarek and sticks around to have a chat. Lapierre comes in from behind and gives Deveaux the old glove-to-face treatment. Grabovski is there to chirp Latendresse after everything is over and done with. Maybe he’s just an a-hole?
It’s great to see that there is some hate between these two teams!

8:31 – 1st Intermission interview: Brad May acknowledges that he was “maybe over-aggressive on the back-check” for his charging penalty. I say it again: Toronto is going to like this guy.

SECOND PERIOD!!!

8:48 – We find out that Grabovski and Latendresse both get misconduct penalties and Deveaux gets a double-minor, while Lapierre is in the box for 2:00. The refs clearly are trying to send a message – hopefully it won’t be received.

8:52 – Some good, fast paced hockey – Moore and Blake have really gelled as line-mates, which is good to see. Blake was really disliked by fans for his general lack of effort earlier in the season, but he has put his best foot forward in the past 5 weeks, since joining up with Moore. This bodes well for his value on the trade-market.

8:55 – Joe Bowen tries out the nickname “Triple-M Line” as Brad May joins up with John Mitchell and Jamal Mayers. Hopefully this line doesn’t stay together long, because I don’t have the heart to tell Bowen that this might be the least creative, and therefore worst line name ever.

8:57 – Deveaux lays into Andrei Kostitsyn after he unsuccessfully tries to fight Sergei. There is a delayed penalty called on the Maple Leafs, but conveniently Alex Kovalev snipes one past Toskala, top corner. This play was kept alive by a big juicy rebound left sitting at the top of the crease by Toskala. 4-1 Canadiens.

9:04 – After a scrum in front of the Canadiens net in which more than a few players get face-washes, Finger is in the penalty box. Toskala makes his 1st and 2nd saves of the night in which no rebounds were given out. What is Justin Pogge up to tonight?

9:05 – White and Plekanec nearly drop the gloves after Luke Schenn makes a nice kick save to prevent Kovalev from tucking in his 2nd goal of the night. On the high angle replay from above the net, Toskala is not even in the picture.

9:08 – Kostitsyn and Blake gets a 10-minute misconduct. Blake doesn’t seem to know why. Referees have clearly had enough of the post-whistle antics. I’m not sure if Kostitsyn actually thought he was going to fight Blake, but they’re done for the period. On the bright side, Grabovski and Latendresse come out of the penalty box! We may have a Semin-style slap fight before this one is over.

9:12 – Even better! Jamal Mayers and Kostopoulos go at it! I think Kostopoulos is injured, but that didn’t stop either of them. Right at the end, Mayers pumps Kostopoulos with jersey-filled left jabs. Decision: Mayers.

9:14 – Literally 2 seconds later Brad May and Francois Bouillon go at it… They circle like a couple of heavy-weights. Apparently May is a south paw. No - he’s a righty! Before the fight even starts, Brad May switches hands and starts throwing them righty. Both exchange some big shots: I never knew Bouillon was a heavyweight. May’s right hand gets stuck on his elbow pad AND SWITCHES TO HIS LEFT HAND! MAY DAY! MAY DAY! Not since Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed's rematch have I seen such an interchangeable right and left combo! Bouillon is surprised by a series of heavy lefts from May toward the end of the fight. What a fight! Edge: Brad May.
For the 3rd time: TORONTO IS GOING TO LOVE THIS GUY!

9:22 – Woah! I was so excited after that fight, I needed to go get a drink of water. And while drinking it, I chipped my tooth. This actually happened. This is pretty standard stuff for me, I’ll be fine.

9:29 – Immediately after Moore misses an empty net on a give-and-go with Jamal Mayers, the other Kostitsyn (Andrei) taps in a pretty similar set-up from Robert Lang. This is why the score is 5-1 Canadiens. This is what my old hockey coach Roman would call a two-goal swing. This was the only thing he ever said that made any sense.

9:37 – Ninety-six penalty minutes were handed out that period!!! Nice work boys. I clearly picked the right game to watch.

THIRD PERIOD!!!

9:49 – Felix Potvin didn’t bring his equipment, so the Maple Leafs put Curtis Joseph is in net for the Third Period. Ron Wilson must have torn a strip off them in the locker room, because the Maple Leafs come out with more speed than they’ve shown all night. Maybe May offered to fight the entire team left-handed if they didn’t try harder.

9:56 – 7 minutes and 41 seconds into the period and we get our first whistle. The Maple Leafs must have to catch the 10:30 train back to Toronto.

10:00 – Brad May flies through the camera’s field of vision and tries to hit Andrei Markov behind the Canadiens net, but misses. It is safe to say that Brad May has had a bigger impact with his new team than Mats Sundin did with the Canucks last night.

10:04 – Eight minutes left and the Canadiens fans start singing “Na-na-na-nah, hey hey hey, goodbye!” They never speak this much English when I need directions to Rue Ste. Catherine. As if on cue, Max Pacioretty bangs a rebound past CuJo. 6-1 Canadiens.

10:09 – I just discovered www.bradmay.ca. May, in his own words:
“Gritty left winger Brad May is a top-notch locker-room guy who keeps his opponents honest when he’s on the ice.” True enough!
I just copied and pasted that from his site. He is also apparently building a golf course near Toronto. As he describes it:
"it’s going to be the best new golf course in Canada when it’s completed."
No capitalization required.

10:12 – Deveaux gets into it with his two favourite people – Komisarek and Lapierre. Face washes all around – Lapierre and Deveaux get ejected. Interestingly, Grabovski is trying to climb into the Canadiens bench, but then notices one of the Kostitsyns is on the ice. I doubt if he cares which one. Grabovski charges after him, but then the linesman drags him down. While Grabovski and the linesman were tangled up, Brad May is hanging out of the bench, telling him to take his helmet off.
Joe Bowen: “Well, no let him go, I want to see this!”

Then something weird happens: Grabovski shoves the linesman then decides to quit while he’s behind. Before he leaves, he gives a Richard Nixon-esque double-peace sign to the fans. Knowing the NHL, they'll probably say that he "assaulted" the official and he'll get suspended for the relatively harmless push. On the other hand, you don't want your players taking liberties with the on-ice officials. It's a sticky situation and Grabovski really did not do himself a favour tonight.

10:19 – Stajan scores. 6-2 Canadiens.

10:22 – Well, the Maple Leafs never really showed up for this one *cough*Toskala*cough*. That being said, I really can’t wait until February 7th when we have our re-match! GOOD NIGHT MONTREAL!