Four in a row at home?

Big win for the Boys in Blue last night – only their second win in the division so far, but a solid effort all around. Sorry about the light coverage over the weekend, I was enjoying the tropical paradise commonly known as New Jersey, but I am back now and am hugely excited about the Leafs! A great win this weekend over the Capitals and a nice 3-2 victory over the hated Sens have stretched our current home winning streak to four wins, with Phoenix coming to town on Wednesday.

Ron Wilson praised the work of Toskala over the last few games and credited him with playing a large role in the recent upswing. “Vesa has done a great job recently and before Vesa, Jonas [Gustavsson] was making some big saves. It’s huge when you start to trust your goaltender, other things start to fall into place, you get more offensive opportunities. The defensemen aren’t worried about making mistakes and, thereby, don’t make as many, generally.” The biggest change in Toskala’s game has been his big save making ability – making the sprawling dive to stop a one timer, reaching back to swat a puck trickling towards the goal line. When goalies make those saves, it really lifts the team, and Toronto has seen that happen far more frequently as of late.

Phil Kessel scored a clutch goal against the Sens on Monday, scoring his 12th goal less than a minute after Mike Fisher had tied the game at 1-1 for Ottawa. Wilson had good things to say about Kessel and his role on the club as well – “That’s another difference from the first month or so, the fact we have a difference-maker, a pure sniper. We have a really hard-working group that some nights might not finish and Phil, if he gets an opportunity like that, more often than not will and it makes the rest of the guys on the team confident.” Like I said last week, Kessel brings the scoring touch and winning attitude to a very tough and hard-working team. It’s hard not to notice the fact that Matt Stajan has 6 goals and 13 points in the last 12 games, or that since joining Kessel on the top line, Stajan is on pace for a 65 point season.

The Leafs will try to stretch their home streak to five wins on Wednesday against the Coyotes. Phoenix has been hot recently, but just lost 3-2 to Detroit and could be the next big win on Toronto’s schedule.

Bit of bad news for the Sens as well – Jason Spezza will be out for some time, possibly as long as 8 weeks with a knee injury suffered during Monday night’s game in Toronto.