Leafs rout struggling Habs

The Montreal Canadiens were hoping that a home game against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs would be a cure for their recent poor play.  Toronto has been scrapping along a few games below .500 all year, while until recently at least Les Habs had been one of the NHL’s hottest teams.  Unfortunately for Montreal, it didn’t quite work out that way as Toronto exploded for three goals in the third period to rout their longtime foes 5-2.

The victory was a much needed boost for the Leafs, who had won only 3 of their last 13 games heading into Saturday’s contest at Montreal’s Bell Centre.  Toronto’s rookie defenseman Luke Schenn opened the scoring late in the first period with his first career NHL goal assisted by John Mitchell and Mike Van Ryn.  Per longstanding NHL tradition, Schenn will now have to buy his teammates dinner which he said he’ll be happy to do despite the expense:

"It's going to be an expensive one, but when you get the rookie dinner in the NHL that means you've made it, so it's going to be an honor to pay for it. “

Montreal tied the game just seconds into the 2nd period when Matt D'Agostini converted on the power play assisted by Alexei Kovalev and Andrei Markov.  Just two minutes later, however, the Leafs would take the lead for good when Nikolai Kulemin’s even strength goal from Lee Stempniak and Pavel Kubina staked Toronto to a 2-1 lead.  They put the Canadiens away for good in the third period on a pair of goals by Jason Blake.  Blake scored at the 3:07 mark assisted by Niklas Hagman and again at 9:13 assisted by Hagman and Dominic Moore.  Montreal’s Tom Kostopoulos would cut the Toronto lead to 4-2 midway through the frame, but Jeff Finger’s goal late in the period assisted by Dominic Moore produced the final 5-2 margin of victory.

After the game, Jason Blake was more pleased with his team’s overall play than his two goal outing:

"We didn't really like our outing last time in Buffalo and playing in Montreal the rivalry speaks for itself, but I think overall as a team we're trying to get some wins here. We're not a San Jose/Detroit type team. In order for us to win we've got to play the way we can play and that's use our speed, make the simple plays and get on the forecheck and shoot the puck, and I thought it was just a great team effort tonight."

In the losing locker room, Habs captain Saku Koivu hoped that the upcoming road trip would help galvanize his club:
"It's time to get some bonding time and spend some time together. Sometimes it's easier to really be simple and do your things and get that focus back when you're on the road and away from all the distractions."

Montreal’s road trip begins in Alberta on Monday and Wednesday, with games against the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers.  They’ll head south to the US Rockies on Friday for a matchup in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche.  Toronto heads to Florida for a pair of games, facing the Florida Panthers in Miami on Tuesday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.  They’ll return home to face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.