LEAFS THANKFUL FOR KESSEL HAT TRICK!

Halloween is 21 days away, yet the Toronto Maple Leafs felt the need to scare the crap out of me three weeks early.  Wow, what a game!  The Leafs dominated the contest over the lowly Ottawa Senators for 50 minutes, until a near meltdown saw the game end in a two close for comfort 6 - 5 win.

Despite the nail biting finish, there were more positives then negatives in this game.  The power play accounted for  key goals by Mikhail Grabovski and Joffrey Lupul,  At the same time our penalty kill went 6/8 on the night, improving to 11/13 over two games.  Then there's Phil Kessel who recorded his first hat-trick as a Maple Leafs, the third of his career.  He now has 5 points in this early season.  All without Tim Connolly.  Imagine the potential amount of points Kessel can put on the board when his injured centre returns to the lineup.

You know it's a holiday that comes around once a year when Colton Orr scores a key goal.  David Steckel continued to prove his worth with a 65% winning percentage on face-off's. As for Dion Phaneuf, he continues to lead by example.  Not only did he get an assist increasing his point total to three, but he proved that he is the Leafs answer to Elvis Presley.  He keeps cranking out the big hits!  That CLEAN open -ice hit was as stunning as his girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert!

Make no mistake, the fact that Ottawa made the game close is alarming.  However, at no point in the game did the Maple Leafs give up the lead.  As the saying goes, they bent but didn't break.  You can't blame Reimer for any of those goals.  He was left by himself, while the team seemed to go into holiday mode 10 minutes too early. Still it's better this happened now, as the team has a week off to correct the mistakes.

The Toronto Maple Leafs next action comes against the Calgary Flames on Saturday.  Until then, Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm thankful for family, friends, good health and a perfect 2-0 start to the regular season.