Eat Sleep Leafs

Jonas Gustavsson will make his third consecutive start in goal tonight as the Leafs tangle with the league's hottest goalie at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo.

 

Ryan Miller has rocked this season, plain and simple.

 

The league leader in both save percentage and goals against, Miller and the Sabres have had a fantastic 7-1-1 start to the season.

 

A start Ron Wilson is keenly aware of.

 

"He's a good goalie, one of the best goalies," Wilson said. "He's proving it this year which is good for me long-term because of the Olympics. He's played great and so has Craig Andersen. They've both been two of the best goalies in the league."

Good long-term yes, but in the short-term when the Leafs are searching for a win? Not so much.

 

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19-year-old Tyler Myers stands tall at 6"8, but imposing? Not yet.

At just 222 pounds, the former Kelowna Rocket isn't quite Chris Pronger but he's made quite the impact here early in his first NHL season and the Sabres plan for now at least to keep him around the entire season.

 

Myers is a former teammate of Luke Schenn from the Western League in Kelowna and according to Myers the two spoke frequently last season while Schenn experienced life as a rookie defenseman.

 

His message to Myers: keep the game simple.

 

A lot easier than it sounds?

 

"Yeah, definitely," Myers said with a chuckle.

 

Five points in his first nine games and an impressive (+8) rating means that so far at least, he's doing exactly that.

 

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Jiri Tlusty has played 72 NHL games to this point, but has yet to stick around for good with the Leafs.

 

Ron Wilson is hopeful that this time will be different.

“If he can play the way he’s played at the end of last year and the beginning of this year with the Marlies. If he can bring the same confidence up here, there’s no reason to think that he can’t become a full-time NHLer,” Wilson said.”

“We just want to get out there and make plays and be creative and if he does that he’ll stay.”

Tlusty has scored 6 goals in ten games with the Marlies so far this season, and before Thursday's call-up, he received a few words of his advice from Marlies coach Dallas Eakins.

“He said to me ‘when you get another chance to play with the big club, you go there and forget about the bad stuff that can happen to you, and just play your game. If you will play the same way, you will be there, but you cannot be nervous up there and let the nerves show up before the game,’” Tlusty explained following Friday’s morning skate.

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Ian White noted a more patient defense coming thru following Wednesday’s game in Dallas, a notion Wilson agreed with.

“Yeah, they’re moving the puck better, simple,” he said.

 

“And that comes from confidence, maybe getting to know each other. We’ve adjusted the pairings and now things are settled in. But I still believe that that’s an area we can improve. A lot of your offense comes from the first pass out of your zone and we need to still concentrate on that and make better first plays out of the zone.”

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Matt Stajan sits 12th in the NHL in faceoff percentage entering Friday’s action.

It’s an area of the game that gets overlooked, but it’s something the Mississauga native has improved on in each of his five seasons in the NHL.

2009-2010 (thru ten games): 57%

2008-2009: 51%
2007-2008: 48%
2006-2007: 46%
2005-2006: 45%

Stajan equates the solid numbers simply to experience and a lot of post-practice work with assistant coach Keith Acton.

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Forwards

Ponikarovsky Grabovski Hagman

Tlusty Stajan Stempniak

Kulemin Mitchell Blake

Primeau Wallin Orr

 

Kaberle Komisarek

Beauchemin White

Exelby Schenn

 

Goalie