Toronto Maple Leafs vs The Thrashers

The Maple Leafs blow into town for the first time this season. I'm super excited because there is someone I'm excited to see!!!


No, it's not this guy. (thanks Aaron!)





It's the Monster, Jonas Gustavsson!



Warm Ups!


There was a lot of excitement near the Toronto bench. The was the first time that fan favorite, Garnet Exelby, returned to Blueland after getting traded. His #1 Super fan was of course there with like a million signs. She drove to Nashville the previous night to see him. Nice job, Gretch!





Ex loved it.





Vesa Toskala has one of the bad-assest masks in the league.





More stretching.





I see Ex still likes to clear the net during warm ups.





Tomas Kaberle





Ex taking some shots. Every time he'd skate by, Gretch and her buddies would cheer loudly.





I was heartbroken to realize that Vesa came out first and that he would be in net. I wanted to see the Monster play :(





While I love crappy pop music and dance music, it doesn't make me think of getting pumped up for hockey. Jason Blake disagrees. He was dancing and singing quite a bit.



That Moose sure is social. He's a chatty guy. Here he is chatting with Toskala.





More Monster.





The Monster stretching.





I barely even got any good shots of him in the net during warm ups because the rest of the Leafs kept blocking my shots.





Finally, a decent picture.





I love this one of him leaving the net.





More chatting with Vesa and Moose.





Vesa is definitely a lid flipper. He flips his mask up a lot.





Moose is chatting away again, this time with his fellow countryman, the Monster.
Moose: Gud mitt team suger.
Monster: det kunde vara värre, kan du spela för Maple Leafs
Moose: det är sant
Monster: Människorna där är galna
Moose: Det kunde vara värre, kan du spela för Montreal
Monster: Åh gud, allt annat än det.





Jonas is very intimidating, he has a very severe stare.





Kessel probably trying to pretend he is still in Boston.





We expected to see Orr and his old pal Boulton go at it tonight.





Awwwww, the Ex stretch. I had so many pics of this last season.





Beauchemin waiting to take shots.





Ex laughing about something.





The Monster seeing some shots.





Swarming the Monster.





Why so serious, Jonas?


Wonder why the call him The Monster? Well, I'm sure it had to do with the "monster" numbers he put up in the AIK. His size probably has a little something to do with it too. Look how he fills the net. He is 6'3'' and Vesa is 5'10''. Now granted they are positioned differently in the pictures, but you can get a good idea of his size.



First Period!


Opening face off.





Some crazy action early in the period and the net is blown off the moorings.





Coulton Orr getting physical.





Vesa contemplating what she's gonna do with all that junk, all that junk inside her trunk.





Thrash trying to put some voodoo on Stempniak.





Action in front of Toskala.





IN THE FACE! Actually it was in the ear, kind of behind the ear. God that must have hurt. Fortunately he returned to the game later.





Almost, Kovy!





Vesa checking out the ice girls again.





Beauchemin helping out Toskala and getting the puck out.





Get some, Kaner!





Ex defending his zone. If you make this picture larger, you can see the puck in his glove, he is batting it out of the air, and Army is trying to knock it right out of his hand. They bumped into each other a few times in this game.

Even though the Thrashers out shot the Leafs 11-8, spirits were low at the end of the 1st period. Thanks to two tip-in goals by Ponikarovsky, the Thrashers were down 2-0. I admit I thought "Oh shit, here we go."




Second Period!





Army had a rough night, he got banged around a lot. He and Ex "said hello" a few times.
Army: "Hey Ex, how have you been?"





Ex: " Just fine Army, what about you?"





Army: "Dude, that was hard."





Ex defending the net.





SO close. The puck almost looks like it IS in the net, but it's not.





This one is though!!!





Ex saw a lot of old friends. Here he is struggling with Thorburn.





Get that puck!





Kubina saying hi to some of his old teammates.





Antro creating problems for Toskala.





Thrash creating problems for a Leafs fan.





Yay! My friends Sonya and Travis on the "Two Minute Drill." If the Thrashers scored in the next 2 minutes, they go home with a $150 gift card to Here To Serve Restaurants. Of course the Thrashers did not score. Sonya and Travis still got a $50 gift card though.





Poor Army, even Vesa roughed him up.





Clear the zone boys!

Well the second period was certainly better! Though slightly out shot, (18-13) the Thrashers tied the game! Kaptain Kovy had a slap shot and Evander Kane had a beautiful little wrap around goal. We headed to the third period tied at 2-2




Third Period!





In the air...it's a bird...it's a plane





It's a storm trooper! Who knew they were fans?





Apparently working for Darth Vader makes no difference if the puck is in play. Kerry caught this funny picture of the usher showing Mr. Stormy to his seat.





Peverely (a/k/a some other guy) is about to make Blueland erupt!





This is what a goal looks like when a REAL photographer takes the picture!





Heatmeiser harasses the Leafs.





Damn, Leafs score. BOOOOO!





No mask, no problem. Antro is THAT much of a badass.





Antro telling Beauchemin "you don't want none of this, son."





Beth and her bad ass Slater sign make the jumbo tron.





Storm Trooper checks his messages. I hope the boss didn't call.





Get him, Toby!





Woo Hoo! Thrashers win! Peverley and Kovy scores and the Thrashers win 4-3.





Goalie love!





It's the 10 year anniversary of the team so at every game, the #1 star of the game gives a stick to a randomly selected fan that has been a season ticket holder since the beginning. Obviously in this case, it's the kid's parents. This kid hit the jackpot as Kovy was the #1 star.





Thrashers win! That means a post game show guest. It's Evander Kane!





Something was up with the audio, so we have no idea what they were saying, but he and Darren look like they are talking intently about something.





Adorable 10000x. Notice the boo-boo on his upper lip. There is a bit of a scab and a bruise.