Leafs finally snap Boston jinx
Rewarding victory, with Sundin on hand to help cheer them on
Nazem Kadri used to watch Mats Sundin and how the Hall of Fame former Maple Leafs captain used to do everything right.
Now all eyes are on the electrifying Kadri — No. 43 with the Leafs but No. 13 when he was with the Marlies. He is quickly becoming the guy who appears to be strapping Toronto’s hockey hopes on his back.
Kadri opened the scoring Saturday as the Maple Leafs held on for a 3-2 win to finally beat the Boston Bruins on a night when the team honoured Sundin’s induction into the Hall of Fame.
“I’m glad he was here, I’m glad we got the win for him,” said Kadri. “I grew up watching him play and he’s a great player. I took a lot of details out of his play, his all-around game. He’s so big — that’s something I don’t have — but the way he positioned himself, like he was never in the wrong position.
“I tried to watch what he was doing, in the neutral zone, in his own zone. That’s why he was the captain.”
Kadri now has a four-game point streak going, with three goals and six assists in that span as the Leafs try to stay above water in the Eastern Conference playoff race. His ice time is rising — his 18:50 Saturday night was second among Leaf forwards, behind only to Tyler Bozak.
Mikhail Grabovski scored for the second game in a row, and Frazer McLaren picked up the game winner on an odd softie that chased Bruins starter Anton Khudobin. These aren’t Sundin’s Maple Leafs, but they are starting to play a bit like the playoff teams that marked his prime years in a Blue and White uniform. Sundin chatted with current captain Dion Phaneuf before the game. Phaneuf, a former Calgary Flame, played against Sundin but hadn’t really said hello as captain-to-former-captain until Saturday. “It was good to see him,” said Phaneuf. “I wanted to thank him for everything he’s done for the team.” The past was definitely on a few minds at the Air Canada Centre. After a video presentation showing highlights of Sundin’s career, the Leafs got down to the gritty business of making the Bruins’ eightgame winning streak over Toronto a thing of the past.
You can’t blame the Leafs if they were a little sick of talking about how they couldn’t beat the Bruins.
“It’s good to put those to rest,” said goalie James Reimer, stellar in turning aside 31 of 33 shots in a game dominated by the Bruins.
“They have had our number,” said Phaneuf. “But we felt good about the way we’ve played against them (this year).”
The Leafs used timely goals and again went hit-for-hit with Boston. Colton Orr clobbered Shawn Thornton in a first-period fight and Mark Fraser leveled Milan Lucic with a second-period hit.
The 3-2 decision was convincing in some regards — timely scoring, great goaltending, tough physical play — but not in others. The Leafs were outplayed, outshot and it felt in the third period like they were clinging on for dear life after Andrew Ference scored with 1:16 to go.
Still, given all the pre-game talk had been about how the Bruins had dominated the Leafs — 25-6-5 in the last 36 meetings — the fact they got lead against Boston for the first time since Oct. 20, 2011, and beat the Bruins for the first time since March 31, 2011, the outcome had to be rewarding for Leaf Nation.
“It was a big win for our team and now we move forward to play in their building on Monday,” said Phaneuf.