Maple Leafs Team Report

INSIDE SHOTS

Some Maple Leafs have come in from the cold, courtesy of coach Ron Wilson.

A couple of lineup changes for Monday’s game against the Thrashers coincided with a 5-2 win, and no one was happier than defenseman Garnet Exelby(notes), who had sat 11 of the last 15 games but was brought back to face his old team.

“I’m not happy sitting out every night, bottom line,” Exelby said before the game. “(Our) team has been doing better, absolutely, which is great, but I don’t want to be a spare part, sitting around the press box, secluded from the team.

“It’s funny how things change. When I was in Atlanta last year, things were going well at the end of the season. Now I’m here and not playing. It’s not the way I expected to start my tenure with the Leafs, but that’s the way it is right now.”

He played almost 14 minutes and led the Leafs with six hits. Jeff Finger(notes) was a healthy scratch in his place.

Center Rickard Wallin(notes) was also gathering dust in the press box after eight games, but with the demotion of winger Christian Hanson(notes), his fourth-line job opened up again.

Not only did the Leafs win Monday, they spoiled the return of two former players, center Nik Antropov(notes) and defenseman Pavel Kubina(notes). The latter had an assist but was minus-3. The Leafs are home to the Islanders on Wednesday, the second of eight home games this month.

Maple Leafs 5, Thrashers 2:   A season-high single-period outburst of five goals sent the Leafs to just their third home win of the season and first on a weekday.

Two goals 28 seconds apart by LW Alexei Ponikarovsky(notes) completed the assault that drove starting Atlanta G Ondrej Pavelec(notes) to the bench for the third period. After leading the NHL with a 34.2 shots-per-game average and not having many regulation wins for their trouble, the Leafs did all their scoring on 12 second-period shots.

RW Lee Stempniak(notes), C Matt Stajan(notes) and C Mikhail Grabovski(notes) had the other goals. G Vesa Toskala(notes), who hadn’t had a two-goal lead to work with in 11 previous games, made 22 saves for the win.

NOTES, QUOTES

• D Ian White(notes) is as mystified as anyone as to why the Leafs have won just 19 home games since October 2008. It’s a given Leafs fans will keep buying tickets, but they’re often ragging their own team and rarely make the kind of noise heard in other cities.

“What are you going to do?” White said. “They’re going to be the way they are. So enjoy it, whether they’re cheering or jeering. Just be happy that we’re playing in the biggest hockey market on the planet, going out in front of 19,500 every night. I look at that as a positive and it helps me.

“Leaf Nation is pretty faithful. Almost every road trip we go on there are a couple of hundred if not a few thousand fans. It’s a very encouraging feeling.”

• Monday’s 5-2 win over Atlanta put the Leafs just five points out of a playoff spot, though six teams remain ahead of the Leafs. But it’s quite an improvement on the situation from a few weeks ago.

“If I were to turn the newspaper upside down where the standings are, I might see we’re at the top,” coach Ron Wilson said. “But I’m not counting, ‘Now we’re five, now we’re four, now we’re three.’ I’m not going through that. That’s for the last month of the schedule.”

• G Vesa Toskala has never lost to the Thrashers in regulation in nine games.

Quote To Note:   “The big thing for us is to follow up with good games.”—RW Lee Stempniak on the Leafs’ difficulty winning back-to-back this season.

ROSTER REPORT

Goaltenders:   Vesa Toskala, Joey MacDonald(notes).

Defensemen:   Luke Schenn(notes), Ian White, Tomas Kaberle(notes), Francois Beauchemin(notes), Mike Komisarek(notes), Garnet Exelby.

First Line:   Alexei Ponikarovsky, Matt Stajan, Phil Kessel(notes).

Second Line:   Jason Blake(notes), Mikhail Grabovski, Niklas Hagman(notes).

Third Line:   Nikolai Kulemin(notes), Wayne Primeau(notes), Lee Stempniak.

Fourth Line:   Jamal Mayers(notes), Rickard Wallin, Colton Orr(notes).

Player Notes:  

• RW Christian Hanson was demoted to the AHL Marlies on Sunday.

• D Francois Beauchemin recorded the hardest shot at the Leafs’ annual skills competition Sunday. His best was 102.2 miles per hour.

• RW Nikolai Kulemin was the fastest skater at the Leafs’ annual skills competition Sunday, circling the ACC ice in 14.05 seconds.

• C Rickard Wallin won the shooting accuracy event at the Leafs’ annual skills competition Sunday, breaking four targets on five shots.

Medical Watch:  

• G Jonas Gustavsson(notes) had an ablation Friday to correct his heart rate and will be out 7-to-10 days.

• D Mike Van Ryn(notes) (knee) is out for the season.

• D Carl Gunnarsson(notes) (elbow) will return early in January.

• C John Mitchell(notes) (knee) will return in early January.