Leafs 7 v. Sabres 4: Coca-Cola Delivers Win

Coca-Cola "Zero Fans First" night delivered the fans actually got what they deserved: a win. Ron Wilson's first game was a coaching gem, Justin Pogge gave Cliff Fletcher the thumbs up to deal Vesa Toskala at the deadline, Dominic Moore signalled his intent to lead the league in goals, and Carlo Colaiacovo showed that he's past his injury problems. Ok, that might be overstating it based on one game.

What can't be understated is what a difference a year makes. Last year the Leafs' home exhibition game was an unmitigated disaster. Little did we know but that game was a portent of the problems that the Leafs would face all year long. If this game ends up serving as a similar harbinger then it is going to be an exciting season.

The Leafs were not without their faults. Ian White was directly responsible for two goals with his terrible decision making in front of the net. On the second Sabres goal he faced a two-on-one down low. Earlier Mike Van Ryn played a similar situation perfectly as he tied up the open winger and allowed Pogge to handle the shooter which he did. White chose the lesser known option of sitting in the middle doing nothing as a pass slides through his leg for a tap-in. Pogge almost saved his bacon but the puck bounced in off of his pad. Later, while penalty killing, White apparently missed Jeff Finger's great example because rather than tie up Hecht's stick he decided to tickle his calves allowing another tap-in. Hopefully Ron Wilson takes those two plays as a sign that White is not up to snuff.

Meanwhile, on the good side of the ledger Robbie Earl did his best to counteract his burgeoning reputation with a well taken breakaway goal after White picked him out (hopefully Wilson forgets about this great pass). Justin Pogge stopped 15 shots in the second period and looked every inch the goaltender of this February. Dominic Moore made it his mission to make Chemmy look bad with his speed and surprising finishing. John Mitchell boosted his NHL credentials Mark Bell marked his desire to stick with the big club with a nice setup of Boyd Devereaux after he pounced on a turnover.

In the bigger picture, the blue team on the ice was the antithesis of last season's squad. On the penalty kill, while they still allowed a trio of goals, they pressured the puck and played a much more passive box. They forechecked aggressively and created a number of turnovers, a coupld of which led to goals. They even blocked shots including Tlusty's great block that led to his empty net goal. All in all, they competed in a way that they rarely did last night. Name any seemingly insignificant play and there were Leafs making sure that it was done because that is how games are won.

Obviously this is just one pre-season game but it was an important first step. If the team couldn't do the small things after two straight days of practice then Ron Wilson was really up shit's creek without a paddle. As it stands, they passed the first test of 9 before the real games begin. If they can make it 8 more then we can talk about new leaves being turned over. But until then, it was a fun start to the season. Hockey's back!

The Game Thread was a pretty good start to the season as well. We had 11 commenters and 102 comments. Hopefully we can continue to build on that as the season continues. Thanks to everyone that came out: