3 D G = W 3

TOR vs TBL 11/01/06

Alot of trends were bucked last night in the Leafs win over Tampa. Toronto overcame an absolutely abysmal record of 1-800-2 when trailing after two periods. Hal Gill scored. Ian White scored. Three defensemen score in a game for the Leafs, as Tomas has the hot hand. Not sure when was the last time three defenders scored in a game, but it doesn't happen often. The Leafs string together their first three game winning streak of the season. Antro wasn't injured while falling awkwardly in the first. Just kidding, but I think Nik owns the rights to the adjective 'lanky.'

For a great run down of in-game events from last night, go check out Chris Young's account. I was going to talk about the line juggling, but CY nails it. This is how the MSM should blog.

I know I've been hard on Steen the past little while, but last night it was almost as if he had taken some of my advice, and was looking to set up his team mates rather than just shooting the puck all willy-nilly. UPDATE - Well, I don't know how I could be so off, but apparently Maurice thinks Steen has been too selfless.

This is going to sound nuts, but I'd wish he'd make some mistakes," Maurice said. "We've asked a lot of Alex in terms of changes to his game, and he is such a conscientious person, I think he's taken it too much to heart. He's not making any mistakes, because he's thinking so much. At the same time, he's not breaking a game open, like we saw at times last year.

"I'd like to see Alex try some different things. Then have him come to the bench, get yelled at, and go back and try them again. Have that confidence in his game to do that. I like the line he is on right now with [Matt] Stajan and O'Neill. I can see him getting some power-play time in the near future.

The puck was following Steen around the rink, and he kept making the right plays. I think he might have deserved the puck luck he was getting last night. But, as Pension Plan Puppets notes, Steen was creating his own luck with a great move at the blue line on Kaberle's goal.

RakingLeafs' good friend Damien notes that JFJ sat down with Steen yesterday before the game, and I'm guessing that had alittle more to do with his performance than my cries of glory hunting. But I don't think Cox watched the game last night, or else he just posted a canned story early this morning before it lost all four of its legs. Cox could learn a thing or two from Young, imo.

Eddie "No Alcohol Involved" Belfour will be between the pipes for the pesky Panthers tonight. I expect him to play a solid game.

And kudos to Paul Kukla, over at the most up-to-the-minute hockey blog in the known universe, for following up on the 'Free or Not' question surrounding the new NHL and Google partnership.