Davids Article

David Pierson’s Article
NEWARK — The Toronto Maple Leafs found an extraordinary way to commemorate a 10-game start that has exceeded the expectations of general manager Cliff Fletcher and head coach Ron Wilson.
They not only battled back twice in their 6-5 shootout victory over the New Jersey Devils Wednesday night, but the Leafs also fired 48 shots at Martin Brodeur, the most the all-world goalie has faced in his storied 15-season career.
Wilson has preached patience with this new group because he has dramatically increased the tempo and skating game of the team. His concern was that it might take until Christmas before the Leafs were able to play three periods of swift-skating hockey without coasting or reverting back to their old ways.
But that certainly wasn't the case against the Devils. Playing 24 hours after a difficult 3-2 home loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Leafs exhibited plenty of jump against a team known for its stingy defence-first play. In their eight previous games this season, the Devils had not surrendered more than 33 shots on goal.


Toronto Maple Leafs' Ryan Hollweg skates off the ice with a cut on his face after a fight with New Jersey Devils' Mike Rupp in the second period. (Rich Schultz/The Associated Press)


"It's coming along," Wilson said. "I had to shake some trees earlier [with the benching of Matt Stajan and Jason Blake], but everyone is starting to grasp the message. They are certainly playing with confidence and that shows in the work ethic."
The victory, which saw Stajan score two goals and assist on another before a sparse Prudential Center crowd, allowed the Leafs to finish the month of October with 11 points and a 4-3-3 record.
How does this compare with the three previous playoff-less seasons after 10 games? Not quite as good as Pat Quinn's final season behind the bench, when the Leafs were 5-3-2, but identical to Paul Maurice's first year and better than last season, 3-4-3.
"I'm proud of these guys, the way they have grasped what were trying to accomplish here," Wilson said.
There still are flaws in Toronto's game. The Leafs found themselves down 2-0 after the opening 20 minutes, a trend that has occurred in four of their past five outings. But they did correct one of their defects by finally winning their first shootout after three failures.
Toronto goaltender Vesa Toskala deserves some credit, as does his fellow Finn, Niklas Hagman, who delivered the winner in the fourth round of shooters.
Hagman skated in on Brodeur with a strange move that saw him show his backhand early before sticking with the backhand to score his second goal in five career attempts. In doing so, he was merely following in a long line of Finnish shootout marksman, such as Jussi Jokinen of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu.
"It's not something we work at," Hagman confessed.
"If you go to a shootout against Finland, then you're dead," Wilson added.
Toskala won only his third shootout competition in 12 tries. After the Leafs lost their third shootout of the season on Oct. 21 against the Anaheim Ducks, a game in which Wilson brought in a cold Curtis Joseph off the bench, goalie coach Corey Hirsch came up with a plan for his student.
Hirsch watched tapes of the best shootout goalies and noticed that they stayed back in the net longer, a tactic that Toskala had not employed. Armed with this new strategy, Toskala stopped three of four shooters. He also was brilliant in killing a Devils power play in overtime to make sure the game got to the tiebreaker.
"I had a plan and it worked this time," Toskala said.
The 10-game mark also was significant for Leafs rookie defenceman Luke Schenn, who will turn 19 on Sunday. Earlier in the week, the Toronto brass stated the obvious when they announced that Schenn was here to stay for the season.
By playing in his 10th game, the first year of his three-season, entry-level contract kicks in. He marked the occasion by registering his first NHL point, an assist in the second period.
Link: Hockey was a winter version of an early type of lacrosse game that was invented by the First Nations hundreds of years ago. There are people are trying to prove that the First Nations did invent hockey.

Questions:
Do you think Ron Wilson Will help the Toronto Maple Leafs become a better team?
Do you think Ron Wilson will try putting in Curtis Joseph for another shootout and see how he does?

3. Do you think Vesa Toskala will get better at shootouts from the confidence he got from the shootout win?