Brophy on Leafs: Secondary scoring
Posted January 11, 2012 9:22 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Toronto Maple Leafs could actually make the playoffs on the offensive strength of Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul alone.
But if they are serious about winning a round or two, then they’ll need supplemental scoring and that has to come from Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin.
Grabovski has been okay this season, but not quite as dynamic as he was a year ago when he scored single-season highs in goals and points with 29 and 58 respectively. Lately he has shown a spark in his game that suggests he is ready to start chipping in on a more consistent basis which would be huge for the Leafs. Grabovski looked full of confidence Tuesday night, scoring his third goal in Toronto’s last four games as the Leafs won their fourth straight beating rival Buffalo 2-0.
At the end of the night, though, it was Kulemin who had tongues wagging. Well, Kulemin and goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, who won his fourth in a row and recorded his second shutout in the past three games.
Kulemin scored a goal, added an assist and to punctuate his big night he laid out Sabres super pest Patrick Kaleta with a thundering body check seven minutes into the third period. That drew the biggest applause of the night.
“All-around he’s been getting the job done – killing penalties, blocking shots and getting pucks out and because we’re missing a couple of guys, he got some power play opportunity and buried one,” said coach Ron Wilson. “He made a nice play on the Grabovski goal and that was one of the hardest hits we’ve seen this year; the hit he made on Kaleta to crown the whole night.”
It was almost like a Gordie Howe hat trick – a goal, an assist and a fight, right Ron?
“Yeah, because he’ll never be in a fight,” Wilson joked. “You have to find a different way for him to qualify. Maybe that was more like a Ted Lindsay hat trick. I’ve never seen him line a guy up like that before. It’s not in his nature to pound people and he’s got the body that can do it. He just came up with that. It surprised our whole bench. It got everybody fired up; I can tell you that.”
The 25-year-old Kulemin, who is in his fourth year in the NHL with the Maple Leafs, has been without question their most disappointing player this season. A year ago he had 30 goals and 57 points in 82 games and appeared to be prepped to challenge for No. 1 line duty. Instead of building on last season, he has taken a huge step backwards. After scoring two goals in his first seven games, he went goal-less in his next 23.
Houston, we have a problem.
Though he has continued to work hard and he has certainly not been a defensive liability, Kulemin needs to score consistently to be effective. The Leafs know it and he knows it, too. That’s why recording a two-point night to kick off the second half of the season is enormous. It was his second two-pointer of the season; the first coming Oct. 30 when he set up two goals against Ottawa.
“I just try to do my best and I have been working in practice on my shot,” Kulemin said, who indeed stayed out about an hour after most of his teammates had left the ice at practice the other day. “I get shots every game and I just have to put some in. It has been tough, but I just try to get through it and keep doing my work. I try to do my best every game to help my team win.”
Asked what felt better – scoring the goal or dishing out one of the hardest hits of the year – Kulemin went with the obvious: “The goal was probably better.”
The Leafs continue to dominate at home in a stretch where they’ll play nine of 10 at Air Canada Centre. They’ll head to Buffalo for a rematch Friday night before hosting the NHL’s top team, the New York Rangers, who won their fifth in a row beating Phoenix 2-1 in a shootout Tuesday.
The Sabres have been a banged up team most of the year and that didn’t change against the Leafs. They lost their leading goal-scorer, Thomas Vanek, with an upper body injury late in the first period after he collided with Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf. On a night when Toronto’s top unit of Phil Kessel, Joffrey Lupul and Tim Connolly didn’t produce a point and managed just three shots on goal, it was nice to have a second line come through such as Grabovski, Kulemin and Joey Crabb (or, Crabb-ovski, as he is being called) did.
Phaneuf summed up Kulemin’s effort.
“I thought he had a great game, but he has been playing well for us and just not getting results,” Phaneuf said. “Night in and night out he works hard. I’m really happy for him and I know our group is really happy for him because he deserves it. It was a real goodnight for him and hopefully he gets rolling.”
