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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Luongo keys Vancouver to victory in Toronto

After falling behind at the Air Canada Centre by a 2-0 score, Roberto Luongo pulled it together and had a tremendous performance in the third period to help the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs are winless in eight games now, and tried hard in this one, but just couldn't solve Luongo, who was great when he needed to be.

J.S. Giguere, on the other hand, had a solid night only to give up a weak five-hole goal from Mason Raymond from the outside on a bad line change by the Leafs. It was the winning goal, and Dan Hamhuis would add a nice empty netter late, when Toronto was throwing the kitchen sink at Luongo.

Nazem Kadri didn't do much. He's not the answer, and the Leafs could set him back a bit by throwing him to the wolves on this team. I think one of the defining plays happened late when Kris Versteeg made no real effort to fight through Christian Ehrhoff, who boxed him out at the side of the net. Leafs fans have to be insanely disappointed in Versteeg, who was a key contributor in Chicago, but doesn't seem capable of being the difference-maker with his new team. Sure, the injuries are hurting Toronto, but when you're Brian Burke and you gave up a ton to get Giguere in net for you, it's a back-breaker to see him give up a goal like he did tonight.

Bruins are picking fourth overall if the season ended today. It doesn't end today, but the Leafs can't win games if they can't score. Going up against top-notch NHL goalies makes it that much tougher every night.

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