2007-08 Regular Season, Game 1

Ottawa 4, Toronto 3 (OT)

PRESIDENT’S 2 CENTS: The Heat is on! The newly-minted richest member of the Cash Line cashed in with a fine performance, scoring the OT winner past Andrew Raycroft. Three points on night number one with the new $45 million, six-year extension in his back pocket? A mighty fine start. And how about doing it the hard way? Off an Anton Volchenkov hit to make a play, Mike Fisher shakes off a Leaf himself, plays give-and-go with Heater, heads for the wing, and feeds him with a laser-guided pass which Heater had zero room for error with, as Chad Kilger was right in front of him. Boom. Five-hole, and Dany heads for the side glass in exactly the same fashion that Alfie did the last time the Sens scored when it mattered in OT, in that big Game 5 winner to win the East. That’s 15 goals for Dany in 20 career games vs. Hogtown. Best part? It’s now three years in a row that the Sens have spoiled the Buds’ home curtain-raiser (2005’s 3-2 shootout win, 2006’s 4-1 win). And come to think of it, the 48th Highlanders, an opening night tradition that began with the first game at the old Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931, bear a striking resemblance to the Sens’ colours with their gold, red, and black duds. For the record, the Leafs lost that 1931 opener 2-1 to the Blackhawks. It’s a nice tradition, but maybe it’s time for some new luck. That or get them hired, pronto, at the Bank … Speaking of the Sens’ barn, the two teams will hook up there on Thursday in the back half of the home-and-home, and the question remains – who will be the starting goalie for the Leafs? In the Official Presidential Opinion, Raycroft should be between the pipes. Sure, the Leafs gave up a lot—including yet another first-round pick—to get Vesa Toskala, but Raycroft outperformed him in the preseason and coach Paul Maurice was right to start him tonight. He had some fantastic saves, none prettier than three in particular off his left pad: firstly, stopping Chris Kelly’s second-period breakaway, stoning Joe Corvo’s dance to the net in the third, and Patrick Eaves’ equally-impressive dance. The funny part? Raycroft was jeered by the ACC “faithful” and quite loudly when Wade Redden cleared the puck out of his own zone during a first-period penalty kill and right on him. The same crowd then cheers his play, sans le sarcasm, later on. Fickle Leaf Nation, methinks? … Speaking of Redden, those fights he got in really helped get him going after a subpar season and playoffs. The second one in particular with Bates Battaglia also helped fire up the team, no doubt aware he was hurt earlier in the period. Reds sported a nice gash on his forehead but was none the worse for wear …

… So Mats Sundin fails to score goal #389 on the night to tie the great Darryl Sittler for tops all-time on the Leaf goals list. Everyone in the place, including Darryl, thought he had it when Nick Antropov’s first of two on the night actually went in off Chris Phillips’ skate. Darryl had nothing but nice things to say about Mats and him both having served as captains of the team, and both dealing with the pressure of doing so. “It was a lot of pressure playing back then, under Harold Ballard,” he told TSN’s Dave Randorf, unable to resist taking a pot shot at the late, eccentric former Leafs owner. Good point. No way GM John Ferguson Jr. would be keeping his job if the old geezer was still around … Back to the Sens: Martin Gerber played another solid game on the night, not having much of a chance on the first Antropov goal or the Stajan go-ahead marker. Notable stops: the Blake pokecheck & subsequent stoning of Boyd Devereaux point-blank, the two big ones on that first-period Leafs power play from Bryan McCabe’s point cannon and the Tucker rebound, as well as the Blake shot in OT from the left …

… The Sens had a brutal second period and a bit of a bad first one as well. Mistakes and giveaways were the mantra, even in the first when a normally flawless Alfie coughed up a few biscuits and rushed a shot on Ottawa’s 5-on-3. Redden and Spezza were guilty parties too, as the sharp Leaf defence (Wozniewski and Gill were great on Spezza), in particular on the penalty kill, forced the latter into some bad turnovers. Gerbs kept the Sens in it in the second, albeit in it on their heels, after an Alfie cough-up (he and the Spezz dispenser had four giveaways each) forced a Tomas Kaberle-led rush which ended in a big save. A stupid Phillips delay-of-game penalty for moving the net finally caused a kink in the armour. 3-2 Leafs on the aforementioned Stajan goal. Funny how Stajan, after unwittingly providing a nice screen for Alfie on the captain’s goal, made up for it. It was just the general feeling that the home team would bust through on its hard work, and it did. But an 12-4 Sens shot count in the third, along with an anemic Leafs 0-7 power play, would be the momentum-changing difference. How about Mike Fisher too? Wow ...

… Some fantastic TSN camera work throughout, with three shots in particular: firstly, of Sens GM Bryan Murray clutching a pen tightly in his hand following Heater sitting down after popping his first. Murray looked either nervous after handing out $45 million to one guy, or like the height of his new (well, kind of familiar you’d think) press box perch was taking some getting used to. Either way, funny stuff. Another fun shot? The one that caught Leafs’ assistant Keith Action seemingly trying to cover a giggle with his hand when discussing something (probably the Redden targeting plan) with Maurice, who did his best poker face. Thirdly and also amusing was the capture of league boss Gary Bettman schmoozing in the platinums, flanked by Toronto Mayor David Miller on his left and MLSE bigwig/Raptors governor Larry Tanenbaum on his left. Bettman and Miller were chatting it up and having a great time, while Tanenbaum, looking bored out of his mind, was probably counting down the days until the Raps open on Halloween …

… TSN Line of the Night: “Maybe he should be the starting goalie against Ottawa (on Thursday),” offered Gord Miller, poking fun at the Leafs’ goalie controversy after Tomas Kaberle blocked two Joe Corvo shots. No Don Cherry Suit Rating until 2 Cents covers the next CBC game, but there was that commercial with golf great Gary Player, who was sporting a nifty zip-up cream turtleneck with a black jacket. Eight out of 10 style points to the Presidents Cup captain, who smartly picked Mike Weir (who, of course, beat Tiger) for the team … Stat Line of the Night: Anton Volchenkov, with three hits and six blocked shots. Welcome back for another year, A-Train. Notably, Jason Blake looked good and led all shooters with seven … Interesting Stat of the Night: Sens had 19 giveaways to the Leafs’ 11, but the Buds edged the Sens 17-13 in missed shots … Last but not least: the Eastern Conference Champions banner gets raised to the roof at the Bank on Thursday. Bittersweet as that might be, the place will go nuts. And judging by the Sens’ record-setting season-ticket holder count of 13,000+ thus far, Leaf Nation might put forth its smallest Bank crowd ever.