Liveblog: New Jersey Devils at Toronto Maple Leafs; March 18th, 2010

10:12: Leafs win 2-1 against the New Jersey Devils!

Kessel, Kulemin, and Mitchell score for Toronto; Parise scores for New Jersey.

10:06: No goal in the OT, going to a shootout. Aside from a good chance for Bozak that hit the side of the net, nothing terribly notable occurred there.

10:02: Stalberg's got some real speed, but he needs to work on that puck control. Could be the laws of physics working against him - moving forward that fast, the puck naturally becomes more unstable. Then again, I'm no scientician.

9:59: Overtime started, no power play goal again by the Leafs. Leafs get a point, though. George Strombolopoulos spotted behind the Leaf bench.

9:54: Two close calls on the penalty kill - good save by Giguere's stick, and a missed net by Martin. Leafs power play follows.

9:50: Another Leaf penalty with about 4 minutes left in the game. Make or break moment here.

9:49: Description of Kulemin from HFboards: "kulemin is a robot imitating an ox"

9:46: Leafs having real difficulty on the faceoffs in the third. 13/15 on draws so far to New Jersey.

9:45: Forgot to mention - what was with that penalty on Kulemin? Nobody but the ref though that should have been a penalty. What, was he penalized for being too strong? On an amusing note, apparently not even three Devils can restrain Kulemin.

9:43: Good chance for the Leafs. Scramble in the zone. Not a goal, but I'll take it as confirmation of my gut instincts.

9:42: Got a good feeling about the next couple of minutes for the Leafs.

9:41: Conversely, Bozak loses the puck while unchallenged on a drive into the zone. Curious.

9:38: Good drive there by Bozak. Shame it didn't turn out.

9:33: The power play difficulties continue unabated. 3/51 now, I believe.

9:30: Leafs with a powerplay chance. Well, New Jersey's not getting chances, but neither are the Leafs. Maintaining zone pressure, though.

9:28: Leafs manage to win the faceoff, but can't get anything moving out of the zone. Seem to still be having some difficulty making smooth looking plays.

9:26: Devils seem to have a lot more energy in this period. Let's see if the Leafs can hold them back.

9:22: Start of the third period. Devils win the opening faceoff.

9:10: Bozak seems surprisingly personable. I expected some sort of animal growl.

9:06: End of the second period. Score: 1-1 tie.

Leafs maintained pressure for most of the period, but the Devils managed to finally show some signs of life near the end of it. Leafs seemed hard pressed to stop the oncoming onslaught - hopefully they manage to rebound after the intermission. I have more faith that the Leafs can win this game than I did at the start of it, but it depends on the Leafs getting better chances than they've been getting thus far.

9:05: Play has picked up a bit. Unfortunately, it's because the Devils appear to have finally woken up, and the Leafs are struggling to contain them.

9:04: Don't know who was responsible on the Leafs D for a giveaway there. Lazy play, whoever it was.

8:58: Goal by #23 David Clarkson! Assisted by #22 Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond at 15:46 2nd Period

8:57: Great stop by Giguere. Where was the other defenseman? Phaneuf with a bad pinch?

8:55: Excellent pass by Sjostrom there, after a rather underwhelming entrance into the zone.

8:54: Penalty kill going well enough. No goals scored, at least.

8:43: A predictably unimpressive Leafs powerplay. I suppose we'll take it as an improvement that there weren't as many shorthanded chances as there were in the previous game.

8:41: Nice pass by Kessel there.

8:40: Powerplay chance for Toronto. Good stop by Danis on Grabovski there.

8:36: That little ruckus in front of the net made me more worried than anything else New Jersey has done this period, and nothing even happened.

8:32: Fight between Orr and Peters. Orr wins it decisively. Peters seemed to regret entering the fight after a short while.

8:30: Nothing of note happening so far. Leafs maintaining pressure in the zone, but no real chances.

8:29: Back at it. Second period. Leafs win the opening faceoff.

8:12: End of the first period. Leafs up 1-0 at the intermission.

The Leafs managed to keep the puck in the offensive zone surprisingly consistently, although New Jersey did manage to keep them from getting many good chances in front of the net. I saw a lot of pucks being flung out in front of the net - which is good - but then those pucks were either lost in the maze of legs or fumbled by the receiver - which is bad. Hopefully they'll be able to keep up the pressure, but convert that pressure into better chances. New Jersey seems awfully uninterested in this game, considering what's at stake for them in terms of leading the Southeast division.

8:09: Goal by Phil Kessel! Assisted by #3 Dion Phaneuf and #39 John Mitchell at 18:54 1st Period

8:08: Almost at the end of the first. Surprisingly dull, so far.

8:02: Good speed from Colton Orr. Didn't think he could move it like that.

Starting this up. Let's see how it turns out.