Shellacking shows Leafs have lots of work to do

You have to wonder if, given the choice, the Maple Leafs would gladly have flipped the results.

They were expected to get whupped in Detroit on Thursday to begin the season, but instead pulled off a surprising win.

Last night, Ron Wilson's crew opened at the Air Canada Centre, a dungeon of misery for the team last season. The Montreal Canadiens were in town and, lo and behold, all the optimism generated by the Detroit triumph evaporated in about a period and a half, with the Leafs ultimately being trounced 6-1.

Losing in Detroit and showing some moxie and strength on home ice, you can bet, would have been a better result. But a 1-1 record is a 1-1 record, and now, after playing two of the top teams in the NHL to start the season, the Leafs host the St. Louis Blues tomorrow, another team that finished well out of the post-season last year and is featuring an 18-year-old, Alex Pietrangelo, on defence to start the 2008-09 campaign.

The Leafs still looked speedier than last year against the Habs, but the Canadiens brought elements of size, aggression and puck movement to the table that the home team just couldn't handle. Mike Komisarek and Duncan O'Byrne handed out lots of big hits from the Montreal back end, and the Canadiens just owned the front of the Leaf net with the Toronto blue-line corps in danger of developing a reputation as a group that can't keep its own crease area clean.

Alex Kovalev took Jonas Frogren into the low post for a goal in the first, and none of the other five Leaf defenceman did much better. Youngster Luke Schenn may develop into a Komisarek-type bruiser, but last night he looked a lot more jittery with the puck on his stick than he did against the Wings.

Down 6-1 after two periods after giving up two in the first and four in the second on a total of 23 shots, the Leafs were at least able to give 41-year-old backup goalie Curtis Joseph a period, with Vesa Toskala relieved from his misery after 40 minutes. It was Joseph's first appearance for the Leafs in six years after leaving as a free agent following the 2001-02 season.

By the third, head coach Ron Wilson was already fiddling with his lineup, moving Nikolai Kulemin in beside Mikhail Grabovski and Nik Hagman, while Jiri Tlusty took some shifts with Dominic Moore and Alex Steen.

In all, the Leafs just didn't have the talent to stay with the Habs, and they weren't as industrious as they were in Motown. That, of course, will be the challenge for Wilson, to coax strong efforts out of this squad more than 50 per cent of the time.

Aided by a bunch of power plays, the Habs owned the puck, and if there were a time-of-possession stat in hockey, it would have showed them controlling the rubber at least 75 per cent of the time. Its going to be a special year in Montreal with the 100th anniversary celebrations and the all-star game, and this looks like it could be a special team, one that rebounded impressively after losing a shootout in Buffalo Friday night.

For all the optimism created in Toronto after the Leafs beat the Red Wings on Thursday, last night proved Wilson still has lots of work to do. His biggest problems right now are carryovers from a year ago - poor play at home and lamentable penalty killing - and it's going to take some time before the Leafs can develop the defensive consistency Wilson is after.

Moreover, they did have some very good chances last night but couldn't get much past Jaroslav Halak in the Montreal net. Goal-scoring always figured to be an issue with this team, and to no one's surprise, it is.

Improved team speed, after all, isn't going to fix everything.