'Lupes', there it is!

Leafs win their 8th of the year, with a 5-3 score, against the New Jersey Devils Wednesday night. Joffery Lupul scored his first hat trick as a Toronto Maple Leaf (second in his career) to lead the Leafs to the win. It's the first time two different Leafs have scored  hat tricks in a ten game period in God knows how long if ever..(I would try to figure it out, but unfortunately I have school in the morning).

Photo by Bruce Bennett

Even with this win the Leafs problems are clearly evident. The special teams have to get better. The Devils were previously 0-9 in their last four games on power play attempts, and in this game they went 2-2. The Leafs also went 0-2 on their own power plays, so Mr. Wilson and his team have some work to do on that front if they want to be contenders (I didn't say the words, that cannot be seen as a jinx, I swear).
On to more happy Leaf thoughts, because that little rant was a tad depressing, the Leafs called up Joey Crabb from the Marlies earlier this week and he scored his first goal of the season to open up the scoring by batting the puck out of mid air and past Martin Brodeur. This was Marty's first game back since an injury at the beginning of the season.
Up until the game was tied up at 3-3 the game was back and forth, literally. Everytime the Leafs would gain the lead, the Devils would come right back to tie it up, but lucky for us Lupul seemed to be on his 'A' game tonight which was the difference on the ice. Grabovski scored the second goal for the leafs.
Gustavsson was once again between the pipes, and again had a pretty solid game with some key saves that kept the Leafs in the game.

Photo by Bruce Bennett

Now, I'm a little biased when it comes to Luke Schenn, but his decreased level of confidence in his game is clearly noticeable, the third goal tonight could have been easily prevented and probably would have been last year. Who knows what happened to him, but all I know is that it's going to have to change, and he is going to have to start playing like he was last year. He did fight this game though, and from my point of view I think he may have been the victor, so maybe something like a win in a fight can help him regain his confidence. He was also trying to be more offensive tonight with some decent chances, so let's hope he keeps this up.
In other news the Kessel train just keeps on rolling with another two points tonight bringing his grand total to 20! There is a reason they named him the first star of October (which hasn't been won by a Leaf since Felix Potvin).
Next up for the Leafs is the Columbus Blue Jackets Thursday in Columbus. Let's see if we can keep up the good work, and score some power play goals!