[Recap] Game 1/82: Toronto Maple Leafs v. ottawa senators

Is it too early to be claiming moral victories or to be already stating 'same shit, different year'?

Maybe it is but that's what Leaf fans were left with after watching their team lose a lead in the third period before conceding the winner in overtime. The mark of a great team is that they can grind out results and that's exactly what ottawa did. The Leafs outplayed the senators for long stretches of the game but the senators showed their pedigree by pulling out a 4-3 win in OT. That makes them 4-0 starting the season in Toronto. Let's do something about the schedule so we open against anyone else.

Blake - Man, he is fast. I don't remember the last time the Leafs had a guy that fast. He gave the sens' defence fits all night.

Antropov - Awesome. If he can stay healthy then Muppet and I won't look stupid for predicting big things for him.

Wozniewski - Two assists and generally a very good game. Keep that up and people will change their mind about you.

Steen - Stajan - Poni - An entire line of young, homegrown players? Weird. They were great along the boards and won a lot of battles with the sens' defence. I really like the look of this unit.

PK - The Leafs have one this year? That would be great news.

It was fun to have meaningful hockey back. Our table at the bar had a field day figuring out how many goals Antropov was on pace to score. It was a little disappointing to see him go from 492 to 164. At the end of the first period he was on pace to beat Gretzky's scoring record some time next season.

The Final Word

Question for the coach:

As the home team, you have the last line change and the ability to control line match-ups.

I was just wondering what hockey genius thought it was a good idea to match Tucker, (a notoriously weak ES player) against Heatley (notorious for owning your club) in a four-on-four situation with the game on the line?

• MF37, Bitter Leaf Fan

"YEAH PUNCH HIM OUT WADE! Wait a minute...Wade? Redden? Really?"

Here's a fun fact: Redden got into 2 fights tonight and that's the same amount of fights he's had in the last two years.

• Sherry, Scarlett Ice