Winless Leafs Thinking Happy Thoughts

Northeast

Written by Justin Rice

Friday, October 23, 2009 12:47

Northeast Division notebook: With the lowly New York Islanders finally picking up their first win of the season Wednesday, a 4-3 shootout victory against Carolina, the Toronto Maple Leafs remain the only winless team in the NHL. But the mood around the Leafs remained upbeat Thursday as they left for a five-game road trip, including Saturday night’s game against the Canucks, who were 4-5 as of Friday. “It's all about staying positive,” defenseman Mike Komisarek told the Canadian Press. “It's easy to get caught up in the negativity if you follow what the media (are saying). You can’t let it get to you, you have to stay positive. The results haven't been there and you have to build somewhere -- and that starts in practice for us.” The 0-6-1 Maple Leafs flashed smiles and joked around with each other as they packed up for the road trip after wrapping up a four-day stretch of practice that Leafs coach Ron Wilson tried to keep lighthearted. Wilson reserved time for a 3-on-3 tournament during practice to try to pump life back into his team. But the big question mark remained: Would goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, who went through his first full practice Thursday since injuring his groin on Oct. 6, return on Saturday? Wilson told a Toronto radio station that he had his “fingers crossed” that Gustavsson could play. “It's getting better and better,” Gustavsson told the Canadian Press. “I'm not sure about Saturday. We'll see what happens.” MONTREAL Center Glen Metropolit finally returned to the lineup on Thursday night after missing six games with a rib injury. He collected two assists in a 5-1 victory against the New York Islanders. … The win against the one-win Islanders was an ugly one. New York took seven penalties, turned the puck over 23 times and allowed Montreal to rifle 43 shots at goaltender Martin Biron. … Team president Pierre Boivin called for a Quebec hockey symposium on Thursday, noting that the province has had a tough time developing its youth players for the NHL. The speech came just after ex-NHL player Bob Sirois released a controversial book arguing that discrimination still exists in the NHL against French-Canadians. BUFFALO Starting the season 5-1-1, the Sabres are leading a charmed season thus far. Despite not scoring in the final two periods against Florida on Wednesday night, the Sabres still pulled out the victory -- because they registered five goals in the opening 20 minutes of the contest at Bank-Atlantic Center. “We weren’t ready to play,” Florida coach Peter DeBoer told the Miami Herald. ... Playing for the first time in eight days, Thomas Vanek returned from an upper-body injury to score a goal against the Panthers. ... Defenseman Toni Lydman missed practice Friday with a groin strain and could be replaced by Nathan Paetsch in the lineup Saturday in Tampa, the Buffalo News reported on its Sabres Edge blog. BOSTON Daniel Paille has taken quickly to his new home in Boston. After being traded by Buffalo on Tuesday he logged an assist in Boston’s 3-2 victory against Nashville the following day. “It was a little bit of a shock, but I'm also excited at the same time,” Paille told the Boston media after joining the team. “It was just to a point where I wasn’t playing in Buffalo, and Buffalo thought I deserved to play, whether it was with them or with someone else. They thought somebody else, and I'm more than happy to be here. It's exciting for me.” ... Paille is the first player ever to be traded between the two franchises. ... Brad Marchand was recalled from AHL Providence for Wednesday's game and picked up an assist in his NHL debut. OTTAWA The Senators were happy to leave with a point on Thursday night against Nashville after erasing a three-goal deficit in the third period. The 6-5 OT loss improved their record to 5-2-1, putting them tied in the points category (11) at the top of the division with Buffalo. ... G Pascal LeClaire (flu) and F Milan Michalek (upper-body) were doubtful for Saturday's game against Boston, the Ottawa Citizen reported. ... F Jesse Winchester was assigned to AHL Binghampton on Friday for conditioning. ... D Matt Carkner signed a two-year contract extension on Tuesday. ... Binghamton Sens forward Ilya Zubov, the club's leading scorer last season, was loaned to the Russian Kontinental Hockey League.