Shootin' Up In Beantown

The Leafs beat the Boston Bruins yesterday, 4-3 in the first shootout of the pre-season. Pavel Kubina - Leaf fans' favourite scapegoat of a year ago - scored the shootout winner in the 7th round.

(This image, taken from the Associated Press, is titled "kubina_gamewinner_seriously_ap_400" - nothing like a respected news source ripping into an athlete for a sub-par season.)

The crowd in Boston was terrible. Being that attendance figures are hard to come by for pre-season games, I'll have to use my best guess...which is about 5,000. There was no Red Sox or Patriots game occurring at the same time. Ouch.

As reported earlier by The Blue & White, Kyle Wellwood is out of the lineup - likely for a month - as a result of another surgery for his sports hernia. An interesting question arises due to Wellwood's absence: who takes his place? Both Simon Gamache (who scored again last night) and Tony Salmelainen are looking for a spot on the team. Both have thusfar been impressive, but were likely heading down to the Marlies, not because they haven't been good enough, rather because they chose to sign with a team without any positions available. Now that has changed. There is a top 6 (scoring line) position available, and if I am calling the shots, one of these two gets a chance to show off.

Random Game Notes:
- John Pohl, Chad Kilger, and Nik Antropov each had two points.

- The shootout - although filled with minor-league talent - was as entertaining as tying two cats' tails together and throwing them over a clothesline. By my count, the Leafs hit 4 posts, but I am including the shots that were along the ground. The Bruins also hit the post twice. Scott Clemmensen was 7 for 7 in saves...with some help from the posts.

- Marc Savard's shootout attempt was one of the more interesting of the shootout's short history. After beating Scott Clemmensen - who barely reacted - Savard's shot hit the crossbar, bounced straight up in the air, came down on the crossbar, bounced out to hit Clemmensen in the back, and stayed out of the net. Crazy.

- Speaking of Marc Savard, he dominated in the faceoff cirle - 19 wins compared to 7 losses.

- Anton Stralman looked much better than he did in previous games. I am beginning to see his potential, although I doubt I'll never agree that he is of Nick Lidstrom calibre. Lidstrom is undoubtedly the best defenseman of the past 10 years. A special, once in a generation d-man.