Blake’s three point night leads Leafs past Isles

Not  long  after  signing  a  new  five year contract in the summer of 2007 the Toronto Maple Leafs forward was diagnosed with chronic my erogenous leukemia   a rare but highly treatable form  of  cancer. He was unable to produce the numbers the Leafs were hoping for in 200708, as he finished with just 15 goals after scoring 40 the season prior with the New York Islanders. Rumors even swirled that the Leafs were contemplating buying out the remainder of Blake’s contract.


Recently, though, Blake is beginning to warm up. He had three points against his former club Monday night, leading Toronto to a 42 victory at the Air Canada Centre. The 35yearold now has 6 points in his last three games.

“Everyone knows I’m here to provide offense and scoring and it hasn’t come together here,” said Blake, who now has 5 goals and 11 assists this season. “It’s disappointing believe me, I’m just as disappointed as everybody else. I pride myself on a lot of things, and it’s just nice to contribute.”

Blake will have to continue contributing in order to avoid more talk of a potential buyout. With Brian Burke now running the show, it’s uncertain if Blake is in the new GM’s plans.

“That’s not my decision to make,” Blake said. “That’s obviously Brian and the organization, so whatever they feel is best for this organization is what they’re going to do.”

Panthers keep clawing away Say this about the Florida Panthers they don’t take nights off.

Florida erased three deficits Monday night, and then came away with a victory when Stephen Weiss scored with 9.1 seconds left in overtime in a 43 win against the Ottawa Senators at Scotia bank Place. The victory improved the Panthers’ record to 512 over their last eight games. Michal Repik who was recalled from Rochester of the American Hockey League earlier in the day erased Ottawa’s 21 lead in the second with his first NHL goal just 1:20 after Dany Heatley put the Sens in front. Jay Bouwmeester made it 33 just 1:38 after Jason Spezza had regained Ottawa’s lead.

‘’That shows a lot of character,’’ Weiss said. ‘’This is a tough building to play in. They’re a good hockey club. Especially when you get down, they’re tough to come back on, and to get those goals right away after gave us a lot of jump.’’ While the Sens were disappointed with the loss, they’ll gladly take the point as they fight to stay in the race to the postseason. Ottawa is 413 in its last eight games.

‘’We got a point,’’ Sens forward Mike Fisher said. ‘’We’ve just got to keep building and finding ways to get points, but at the same time, we’ve got to win games like that.’’

Groundhog Day On Nov. 28 in Buffalo, the Sabres found themselves in a 31 hole against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They rallied for a 43 victory.

Things weren’t much different Monday night at Mellon Arena. Thomas Vanek broke a 33 tie with his League leading 20th goal of the season, lifting the Sabres to another 43 victory against the Pens. Just like Nov. 28, Pittsburgh once held a 31 lead.

‘’We played really good in the first period, we got a lead, and we just couldn’t hold on to it,’’ said Pens forward Ruslan Fedotenko, who had his first two goal game since Feb. 14.Pittsburgh was provided a golden opportunity to pull away in the second, when it played 3:35 with a two man advantage, but the Pens failed to cash in, allowing the Sabres to stay in the game. Ales Kotalik and Daniel Pailletied the game for Buffalo in the second, and then Vanek continued his torrid pace 6:13 into the third.

“At 31, we started to play horribly,” Penguins Coach Michel Therein said. “It was a horrible performance. That’s the truth.”

Even the Sabres noticed the Pens’ dysfunctional power play, which went 1for8 Monday night. The only bright spot was Kris Liang scoring his
first power play goal in 82 games.

‘’They didn’t put too many pucks on the net; they tried to be a little too cute and go for an empty net,’’ Sabres defenseman Jar Slav Space k said.
‘’They had a couple chances but we did a good job with some big kills, especially the second 5on3.’’

Bruins don’t want to get cozy Despite Monday’s 53 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning being their 14th win in 16 games; the Boston Bruins are worried about complacency setting in. The Bruins did seem to take the foot off the gas pedal after jumping to a 30 lead in the first period.
Tampa Bay scored twice in the third and peppered Tim Thomas with 15 shots on goal in the final 20 minutes. ‘’We’re not playing the way we usually play against teams,’’ Boston captain Zdeno Chara said. ‘’Just because we worked hard in the first period we played a little too comfortable, I guess. Maybe we’re a little too confident.’’

Bruins defenseman Dennis Wide man agreed, and pointed to the defending Stanley Cup champions as an example of what good teams should do when building an early lead.

‘’That’s something that shouldn’t happen,” Wide man said of a possible letdown. “You look at the elite teams like Detroit when they get leads like that, they keep coming at you.’’