Price, Habs steal one from Leafs

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Mike Komisarek was out to make a good first impression, but the robust Toronto Maple Leafs blueliner tried to do too much against his old team, the Montreal Canadiens.

Komisarek was a physical, chippy force in his Leafs debut performance. But he spent a whopping 15 minutes in the penalty box and was in there twice when the Canadiens scored in their 4-3 overtime victory to open the 93rd NHL season last night.

The Leafs held a 3-2 advantage after Matt Stajan's second power-play goal of the game midway through the third period, but then a Komisarek elbowing penalty on Montreal's Mike Cammalleri led to Glen Metropolit's power-play goal to tie the game with 4 minutes 10 seconds remaining in regulation.

"I'd like to spend more time on the ice and less in the box," Komisarek said in the dressing room after Canadiens defenceman Josh Gorges was in the right spot to pop in a rebound off a Cammalleri rush with 12.8 ticks left in the extra period.

"I knew it was going to be an emotional, very intense game," added Komisarek, when asked what it was like to go up against his old teammates. "Being a big, physical player, I'm not going to shy away from it."

The Leafs defenceman had battles against Montreal's Scott Gomez and Travis Moen for running into Toronto goalie Vesa Toskala. Komisarek also exchanged hacks on the way to the bench with Andrei Kostitsyn, the Canadiens' skilled forward.

Komisarek fought Moen after his run-in with Toskala, and the extra two minutes that Moen incurred for goaltender interference led to Stajan's second goal.

There is no secret that the Leafs want to be more truculent this season. This will translate into more scraps as evidenced by the three bouts that pleased the capacity crowd of 19,617 at the Air Canada Centre. Toronto's Colton Orr battled Georges Laraque of the Canadiens. Moen traded punches with Leafs rookie Jay Rosehill. Komisarek fought Moen.

But Komisarek wants to lead the way more with his physicality, and he likely tried to set that tone too much against the Canadiens.

"I was very happy he set a tone that he wants to carry through the season," Leafs coach Ron Wilson said. "I counted five times they ran our goalie and they only got one penalty. Mike was the one going in there and I support that 100 per cent. Mike answered the bell."

The Canadiens actually out-hit the Leafs 37-22 in the season opener.

"I looked at the stat sheet before the game and our average height was 6-foot-1 and average weight was 207, they were 6-foot-1 and 208," said the overtime hero, Gorges. "We have some guys who can hit, too."

While the Canadiens were pleased with their effort, they did leave the building concerned about star defenceman Andrei Markov. He suffered a left foot injury early in the third period, when he was sliced open by the skate of Montreal goaltender Carey Price.

The Canadiens did not reveal how serious the injury was. Markov will be re-evaluated today.

The Leafs entered their season opener with a much improved defence with the additions of Komisarek, François Beauchemin and Garnet Exelby and were considered thin up front. But the Toronto forwards played well against Montreal, especially rookie Viktor Stalberg, who picked up an assist on Stajan's third-period goal.

The defence, however, were mistake prone. They made poor decisions and turned the puck over too many times. Beauchemin's play was especially not up to snuff. He got beat to the puck for the Canadiens first power-play goal by Brian Gionta in the first period after Toronto's Wayne Primeau won a faceoff. Beauchemin, a Montreal draft pick who played one game for the Canadiens in February, 2003, was bumped off the puck by Metropolit for Moen's goal in the second period.

Scoresheet

NOTES The Toronto Maple Leafs recalled sophomore forward Nikolai Kulemin, after demoting him last Wednesday, because Phil Kessel could not be placed on the long-term injury list until yesterday. … The Leafs opened the season with a payroll of $53.33-million (all currency U.S.), which is more than $3-million under the $56.8-million upper limit of the NHL salary cap. Toronto will have space available when injured defenceman Mike Van Ryn ($2.9-million) is ready to return to the lineup from his knee problems, but will likely go over the limit when Kessel ($5.4-million) recovers from his shoulder ailment, likely by mid-November. Some payroll will be chopped by the two players Kessel and Van Ryn replace, but with Kessel's high salary the Leafs will likely be above $56.8-million. Still, under the NHL labour agreement, there is room to exceed the salary cap by a maximum 7.5 per cent to allow for players' performance bonuses. Defenceman Luke Schenn and rookie goalie Jonas Gustavsson have such bonuses in their entry-level contracts. Where this could hurt is if those two hit their performance targets and take the payroll over the $56.8-million limit - because any amount exceeded this year comes off Toronto's salary cap for the 2010-11 season.

Next Saturday, at Washington Capitals, 7 p.m. EDT

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