Wait... You're Supposed to Skate?

In a previous post I said that Phil Kessel was due to score 40 goals, I am now revoking that statement and saying that Phil Kessel is due to score 50 goals, IF he is able to keep his feet moving. Now for those of you that do not play hockey you may think that that is pretty much a gimme... why would you ever be standing still? As a lazy forward (yes, P-Kess is lazy at time) I can vouch for him that often it feels like you are in the right spot and that you should stay there, at least for a few seconds, for your teammate to find you. This is often not the case and, especially in the NHL, you have to make your own goals sometimes. That is exactly what Kessel is doing.

I was able to find an online stream of the Calgary game and right as I turned it on I saw 2-1 Calgary and they were on a 3 on 2... awesome. Then I make the game fullscreen, it buffers, and we score! I am sitting there wondering how it happened, it buffers some more, and I saw something beautiful. Kessel used his quickness, and his speed to blow past the Clagary "Defender" (sorry Clagary fans you won't win 35 games this year) then used his true scoring ability to slip the puck bye Mikka Kiprusoff for the tying goal. Yes, Kessel did get off two a fast start last year (3 goals in first four games) only to cool off to a brutal 7 combined goals in October and November, but I do believe that somebody in the Leafs organization finally got to Kessel and made him realize how good he can be.

Not every goal you score can be picture perfect though. And as any hockey coach/player/announcer would say all you have to do is put the puck to the net and good things will happen. That's how Kessel scored his 2nd goal of the night, it bounced off of former Leaf Lee Stepniak and trickled barely over the line... but it turned out to be the game winner. He now has 5 goals, 3 assists, 11 shots on goal and is +7(?!?...he finished -20 last year). Also, for those fantasy owners he got 2 PIM minutes in last nights game, so it's good to see him getting down and dirty in the corners. Kidding, he got a delay of game penalty for shooting it over the glass... but thanks for the 0.5 fantasy points anyway!

If P-Kess is able to keep his legs moving, stay healthy and have his line mates continue to feed him the puck, and have Optimus Reim save 30 shots a game all season (that is for another post, no pun intended) then the sky is the limit for Phil this season.

Until Kessel scores an "Ovechtrick"
-Riley