Leafs Dominate Blue Jackets
Posted October 20, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Sparked by the energy of Ben Ondrus, who recorded an assist in his first game of the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs bounced back from a dismal effort against the Colorado Avalanche to down the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 on Friday night.
Ondrus’ physical play on the fourth line seemed to inspire the Buds, who were booed off the ice at the A.C.C. Wednesday after a flat performance against the Avs.
There would be no repeat of that lackluster brand of hockey on Friday as Kyle Wellwood and Michael Peca scored 34 seconds apart to lead the Leafs to victory. Peca was playing in his 700 th career game.
“We weren’t really confident when shooting the puck, then when we got one we relaxed and started to shoot the puck a little bit more,” Toronto coach Paul Maurice said. “That is basically our game.”
Bryan McCabe and John Pohl also scored for Toronto while goalie Andrew Raycroft stopped 23 shots.
“(We had) a little slow start but the special teams were huge for us tonight,” McCabe said. “The penalty kill was excellent and probably won us the game.”
Manny Malhotra and Alexander Svitov replied for the Blue Jackets, who looked rusty and sluggish after only playing one game in the last 10 days.
Wellwood continued his efforts to make believers out of Leafs fans, recording an assist to go along with his goal. He now has two goals and eight assists in his last seven games.
“When you get on the road after a loss, you really want to have a good game,” said Wellwood.
