NNN: Trial by Fire

Glove tap to Stanley Cup of Chowder (or Chowdah) for finding video proof of Our Luke and Saviour's awesomeness. Notice how quickly Chara gets in between Luke and his target Wideman. Chara should get a medal for saving his teammate's life.

The second massive hit that the Leafs managed to skate into might have been the turning point of the game:

As much as I hate to say this, the Lucic hit was a major turning point in the game. I'm not sure if it was the time spent waiting to repair the glass that took the wind out of their sails or if the hit energized the Leafs, but the B's looked like a different team afterwards.

Personally, the Leafs had this game the whole way. It was just a matter of whether their finishing would allow them to pot enough goals.

The Bruins Report takes a slightly homeristic look at the game:

In what SHOULD have been a convincing win, the Bruins instead decided to say "Meh, 2 goals is enough to win, we guess" and ended up handing 2 points to the Maple Leafs.

Two goals against the run of play is not exactly convincing. The Bruins lethargy was more a function of the Leafs' buzzing all over the ice than the beantowners natural inclination to move slowly.

Howard Berger writes for the National Post? Is this for serious? Anyway, his press box colleagues managed to hit on why the Leafs have been able to come back from back-to-back two goal deficits - defence:

For the first half of the opening period, reporters were asking a trivia question in the press box: "When was the last time a Toronto goalie faced a shot on goal in regulation time?" Wideman lobbed a routine floater at Toskala from the right point nine minutes and 44 seconds into last night's encounter, ending a remarkable stretch of almost two full periods in which the Leafs held the opposition without a shot.

Wow. That is almost as stunning as the comeback that the Leafs made again which, as noted by Rob Longley, is a bit of a change from the past:

 In another year, on another Maple Leafs team, Anton Stralman's own goal midway through the first period of last night's game at the TD Banknorth Garden would have been the beginning of a very ugly end.

What a difference completely re-making your roster will make. And who among the newcomers had the biggest inpact on the game? Our Luke and Saviour:

Wilson was pleased by the 18-year-old rookie defenceman after he went after Boston Bruins defenceman Dennis Wideman, who had nailed Leafs forward Matt Stajan with a shuddering open-ice hit. Schenn was penalized, but the Leafs played with more energy