Komisarek's Brutal Night

Mike Komisarek played 12:08 last night broken down as such:

In his 10 even strength minutes Komisarek managed to be on the ice for both Montreal goals. Ron Wilson didn't give a ringing endorsement of Komisarek's play to Leafs Beat:

He didn't play very much last year and he didn't play very much within our system so his ice time wasn't a lot last night because other guys are playing a little bit better. And that's the way it's going to be. - James Mirtle, The Globe and Mail

Wilson isn't strictly throwing Komisarek under the bus but that doesn't say a lot for him. I'm of the personal opinion that despite being injury shortened Komisarek's last season was horrible. I was willing to give him a Toskala mulligan but he needs to drastically improve his play from what he's bringing right now.

On the first Montreal goal last night Carl Gunnarsson fails to clear the puck off the glass and it goes directly to Dustin Boyd who steps around a standing Komisarek to bang it home on J.S. Giguere. I'll fault Gunnarsson and Komisarek equally. The second goal was kind of fluky and Komisarek had a man tied up. Both Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin need to settle down a little in the zone on that play.

Forget the storyline of Montreal being happy to be rid of him; at the time Bob Gainey was distraught to have lost Komisarek so it's clear other teams think he has a lot to bring to the table. We just need him to show it. For his part he seems to be taking it in stride:

Asked if he minded that his ice time was seriously curtailed, with only five shifts and 2:36 in the third period, Komisarek said no.

"It's one game," he said. - James Mirtle, The Globe and Mail

That's the right attitude for a veteran who needs to work his way back into the lineup. Remember last year he had a terrible game against Montreal. Hopefully he's jittery playing against his old team until he gets used to beating them. Let's hope he turns it around, we'll need him.