Leafs Spanked 6 To 2 By The Bruins For First Regulation Loss Of Season

The first regulations loss of the season for the Leafs comes from an embarrassing 6-2 defeat at the hands of the Boston Bruins.  In his season debut, Colton Orr took on Shawn Thornton in a lackluster battle 1:54 into the game.  Steckel potted his first of the season with a nice pass from Nazem Kadri who was recalled a day after being sent down following his return from injury. Shortly after, Boston climbs in front with two powerplay goals from Nathan Horton and a laser off the circle from Zdeno Chara. Both teams went on to take three penalties each in the second but neither team could capitalize with a strong period from Tim Thomas as the Leafs outshot the Bruins 14 to 11 for the period. The third period got ugly for the Leafs as goals by Lucic, Bergeron and Seguin made it 6–1.  The Boston faithful erupted with “Thank you Kessel” chants after Seguin’s second of the season.  49 seconds later Grabovski fired a wrist shot past Thomas to bring the deficit to 4 goals. There was no comeback tonight as the Bruins held on to hand the Leafs their first regulation loss.

 

Remember what happened last year? After going 4 and 0 they followed that up with an impressive 1-8-3 record. Not to mention Phil Kessel’s similar hot streak to begin the 2010 season followed up with a brutal next month of embarrassing production. Have they evolved from last year? I for one am not totally convinced.  It is no secret that a true number one center and an additional top six player are needed to make this team a true contender but if all things go there way this team may qualify for the playoffs.  At least there is some hope with quality youth in the system and those beginning to make an impact with the big club but they are still a work in progress.  It all depends on Reimer from here on out and unfortunately for this likeable guy he will be much of the blame if things go wrong.

 

By: Liam Niven