World's Most Famous Arena!

As head coach Ron Wilson and his not so merry band of winless Maple Leafs make their way up to the fifth floor tonight in the world's most famous arena, it is safe to say, that a win, against any opponent, in any building, will not be easy!

The Rangers, well rested and against a team that had played less than 24 hours prior to sunday's matinee; were relentless on the forecheck. They not only won convincingly but with their back-up netminder, Stephen Valiquette, shutting out the Ducks, 3-0. Of course he faced only 18 shots all night, with just one in the first period of a then still scoreless tie. The Ducks mustered some offense and energy in the second period but it didn't last long before penalities sapped any thoughts of a comeback.

So tonight, with the Leafs facing the Rangers number one netminder, Henrik Lundqvist, "easy" goals don't appear to be anywhere on the horizon. This means Wilson will be looking to find some sustained offensive pressure from a group of forwards that likely will be without Viktor Stalberg who is "questionable" for tonight's tilt.

John Tortorella points his finger during a game.

The good news is that this is the Rangers second game in as many nights and with such a young defense the Leafs should look to get them to cough the puck up. The Rangers are playing with 22 yr. old Marc Staal averaging 25 minutes a game and have two other rookies playing a regular shift as well. Michael Del Zotto, the 19 yr. old Ontario native has 5 points in 5 games and played just over 17 minutes against Anaheim while Boston University rookie, Matt Gilroy, played 18 minutes. One would think that getting pucks behind these guys on a consistent basis would be the game plan tonight. Along with those three youngsters, the 25 year old Guelph Storm product, Dan Girardi, is also playing a ton of minutes averaging almost 23 a game.

If they cannot play more of the game in the Rangers end tonight, it could spell another long night for their beleagured goalie, Vesa Toskala, who is expected to start again in net tonight. With a GAA of almost 5 and the 48th ranked goalie in the league right now...it's hard to tell who's make-up is more fragile, his or Leafs Nation?

With both teams trying to impose their pressure and pursuit systems on the other, it will interesting to see which team executes tonight at the Garden.

Two intersting side-bars: Colton Orr, the 27 year old Winnepeg native, returns to the place he spent the last 3 plus years and Vaclav Prospal who has been reunited with his old coach, John Tortorella, is not wearing a visor for the first time in as long as I can remember. He has a 4 game point streak...is he "seeing" the ice better?