On a night to celebrate the newest hall of famers and to remember fallen soldiers, hockey's greatest rivalry got a little bit bloodier with a disabling hit on Maple Leafs defenceman Mike Van Ryn.And Mikhail Grabovski began to write his own tale as one of the rare breed who have played for both the Montreal Canadiens and the Leafs.
While Grabovski held court in front of a throng of cameras and tape recorders following Toronto's 6-3 win over Montreal, word spread that Van Ryn was lying in a hospital bed after being slammed into the boards by Tom Kostopoulos during the first period.
"He's got a concussion, a broken nose and a broken hand," said Leafs coach Ron Wilson, "so, he'll probably be out somewhere around a month. Every bad thing that could happen, happened on that play."
The league was reviewing the play last night, but there was no immediate word on whether Kostopoulos would be suspended.
The hit came early in the game, at 7:03 of the first, but it was a rallying point for the Leafs, who ended a three-game losing skid.
On the ensuing five-minute power play, Grabovski scooted up the right side, pulled a head fake that fooled Montreal defender Andrei Markov and fed a perfect pass to Niklas Hagman, who was able to score the first of his two goals on the night.
Grabovski then scored the Leafs' second goal at 1:48 of the second on a quick wrist shot.
"Grabbo," as he's called in the Leaf room, was a dynamo all night, getting under the skin of the Habs, with Saku Koivi sniping at him and Sergei Kostitsyn taking runs at him.
He did a lot of hard work that doesn't show up on the scoresheet - his second effort on a faceoff helped set up Hagman's second goal - and generally outshone the players in the bleu, blanc et rouge who were entrenched ahead of him in the Habs' depth chart last season.
"The Canadiens knew what they had in Mikhail," Wilson said of his team's major off-season acquisition. "(But) they've got an unbelievable group of forwards with so much skill and he probably wasn't going to get a fair opportunity. Fortunately for us, we were able to pick him up. He's into a real good rhythm. He's been our best player for two weeks. That's why he's got seven goals now."
Grabovski speaks some English but last night, with a crush of media in front of his stall, it was up to teammate Alexei Ponikarovsky to translate when reporters asked what Koivu told Grabovski.
"He (Koivu) gave him some special advice," said Ponikarovsky, getting a laugh. "He told him it would help him in the future. He (Grabovski) just listened to his advice because he respects him."
Grabovski has six goals in his last four games and is among the rookie scoring leaders. He doesn't like to talk about his Habs playing days, where he got into just 24 games over two seasons and was banished to the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs.
"We go play, we win," Grabovski said in his broken English of last night's effort. "Nothing special."
Habs coach Guy Carbonneau didn't want to chat about his former player.
"Listen, I have enough of my own problems," said Carbonneau. "I don't really care about what he thinks or what he says. He's playing well, good for him."
Linemate Hagman said he was sure Grabovski loved showing up his former teammates.
"For sure," said Hagman. "And they've got a lot of Russian players in that room. That could give a little more extra boost."
Former players Igor Larionov and Glenn Anderson, the late Ed Chynoweth and retired linesman Ray Scapinello were honoured at centre ice in the Hall of Fame game. Former Leaf and World War II veteran Gaye Stewart read "In Flanders Fields" before the game, part of Remembrance Day celebrations.
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