Toronto Maple Leafs Phil Kessel (C) is greeted by teammates at the bench after scoring game winning goal against the New York Islanders, late in the third period, of their NHL hockey game in Toronto February 22, 2011. REUTERS/Fred ThornhillFRED THORNHILL/Reuters
It certainly didn't look like a battle between two of the Eastern Conference's hottest teams.
But in a fine display of this era of extreme parity and with a whole lot of "who" on the ice on Tuesday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs continued their post-all-star break run with an ugly 2-1 win over the New York Islanders.
In a game filled with players trying to prove they deserve to hang around beyond this season, it was Leafs sniper Phil Kessel who added the exclamation point, wiring an unassisted winner past an overwhelmed Al Montoya with less than five minutes to play.
Up until that point, it had been mostly hideous hockey between mostly minor league talents, although Kessel had -- as per usual -- his chances and ultimately proved the difference on a terrific end-to-end play that he capped with his 23rd goal.
Leafs winger Clarke MacArthur opened the scoring midway through the first period, scoring his 18th of the season to set a career high with 22 games to play.
Isles winger Matt Moulson then tied the game midway through the second with his 27th of the season, moving the long-time minor leaguer to a tie for ninth in NHL goal scoring.
Both teams have staged remarkable late season charges after wallowing near the bottom of the standings much of the year, with the Isles posting an 8-4-0 record and the Leafs a 7-2-2 one since the all-star break.
With the Carolina Hurricanes losing 4-3 in a shootout to the New York Rangers later in the night, the Leafs moved up one point to within six of the eighth and final playoff spot.
Clarke's mark
MacArthur's goal couldn't have come a better time given his agent, Don Meehan, and Leafs GM Brian Burke had sat down earlier in the day to discuss a contract extension.
Burke has talked tough publicly on the subject, saying he won't hesitate to listen to offers for MacArthur if his contract demands are too high, but the Leafs leading scorer has attempted to shut out as much of "the business side" of things as he can.
"Obviously it's a little uncomfortable," MacArthur said. "It's going to be nice when the week's over, that's for sure."
It's believed the MacArthur camp is after a deal in the neighbourhood of the three-year, $2.9-million per season contract that linemate Mikhail Grabovski signed in the summer of 2009.
Getting MacArthur locked up should be a priority mainly to keep Toronto's best line together for roughly $8-million next year. In addition to Grabovski, winger Nikolai Kulemin is signed for another season at $2.35-million.
Bozak's funk continues
Centre Tyler Bozak went pointless for his 14th game in a row despite playing more than 20 minutes, continuing a season-long slump that has significantly hampered one of the Leafs' top two lines.
In his first full season after impressing in a 37-game audition last year, Bozak again appeared to be both overwhelmed and frustrated by his lack of success on Tuesday. Toronto's weakness down the middle, however, means coach Ron Wilson has few other options.
The only place Bozak has had much success has been in the faceoff dot, where he was better than 75 per cent on Tuesday and ranks among the top 20 in the NHL. It's his contributions there, and killing penalties, that will likely keep him pencilled in as a third-line centre next season.
Blueline pain
Burke better hurry with whatever addition is coming on the back end, as the Leafs' third defence pairing of Mike Komisarek and Brett Lebda continues to labour in a larger role since Tomas Kaberle and Francois Beauchemin were dealt away.
Despite limited ice time, both were whistled for minor penalties in the early stages of the game, with Komisarek in the box for holding when Moulson scored the Isles' tying goal in the second period.
The lack of a puck-moving defenceman was most evident on the power play, where the Leafs were abysmal in going 0 for 3, falling to 7 of their past 72 opportunities (9.7 per cent) in the last 20 games.
The recently departed Kaberle's replacement on the point, meanwhile, was fourth-line centre Tim Brent, who had averaged six seconds of power play ice time a game coming in.