The Hurricanes came to the ACC, but only Cam Ward showed up to play. The Leafs outshot the 'Canes 21-7 over the first 30 minutes (38-18 over the full contest), but couldn't couldn't make the game interesting until 15:46 in the third, when MacArthur ripped a shot and Connolly tipped it in. Former pornstar Jiri Tlusty drew a high sticking call with 3:37 left to play in the game, and with under two minutes to go, former Maple Leaf Alexei Ponikarovsky tied the game.
In overtime, the Leafs got a couple good chances on the rush, but it was Lupul's drive down the right wing that would lead to the game winning goal. A heavy slap shot trickled through Cam Ward, and was poked back towards the corner by Justin Faulk. Lupul kicks the puck towards the net, it bounces off the post and through the crease, where Connolly beats Poni to tap the puck across the goal line. Cam Ward's goal stick did not survive the incident.
The Leafs power play went 0/3 despite getting some good chances, and the penalty kill was 2/3, so woes continue there, but considering that the Leafs' even strength game dominated in puck possession, and got some great chances, you've gotta like this game from the blue and white. Not a single Leaf had a negative Corsi or Fenwick rating, while the best the Hurriances could muster in either stat was break even.
Kulemin had a good game. The lead picture for this piece is Kulie driving hard on an outside rush and drawing a penalty that never came. He also had a great walk-in from the half boards, in which he shrugged off two or three 'Canes to get a good scoring chance turned away by Ward.
Gardiner led all Leafs with 24:14 in ice time, including 2:58 SH TOI. Poni was his man to tie up on the Leafs' PK, but it should show how much confidence Wilson has in the kid. At 47:42, he has about half the SH TOI of Gunnarsson and Phaneuf (95:20 each) so far this season, but also has the lowest 4v5 GA/60 of any Leaf defenseman, so despite the error, continuing his limited use on the PK probably isn't a bad thing.
Connolly obviously had a great game. I thought Liles had a strong first and a decent second and third, and Reimer played as well as he had to. Your Time On Ice stats:
