Leafs' top dog has new tricks

By STEVE SIMMONS -- Toronto Sun There was a moment in the second period of the first home game of the new season that told much about the quick start of the Maple Leafs.
At his end of the ice stood goalie Curtis Joseph, doing stretching exercises during a play stoppage, doing something, anything, to keep himself sharp.
A year ago, Joseph never had to worry about stretching mid-game. He was stretching to his left to make a save, stretching to his right, forever stretching. Not this game.
Last night, in the Leafs' first home opener at the Air Canada Centre, Joseph did stretching exercises and after the Leafs had beaten the Boston Bruins 4-0, Mats Sundin went to the back of the Toronto dressing room for an additional workout.
The Leafs are off to a near-perfect start -- a 4-1 win win in Montreal on Saturday, a 4-0 shutout against Boston last night while Joseph has a 0.50 goals-against average.
"That's nice,'' Joseph said, and then with a sly smile added: "I don't know if it will hold up.''
This is Joseph's second season as a Leaf -- at first he changed the team and now the team is changing around him. During the 1998-99 season, it was Joseph first, offence second and defence be damned. The Leafs won when they scored often enough and when Joseph stole victory after victory.
So far -- and general manager/coach Pat Quinn keeps saying it's early so it must be early -- there already is a different feel to the Leafs, a team more confident with the puck and without it, a team that seems more committed to playing in both ends of the rink, a team that perhaps won't have to rely on a goaltender every night to make the difference.
And yet, between stretches and shots last night, Joseph still had to be Joseph. There was a miscommunication in the first minutes after we put the 48th Highlanders to bed -- and can't we do this permanently, please -- when Joseph introduced himself to new Leafs defenceman, Cory Cross. Cross went one way, Joseph went the other and the puck almost went into the Toronto net.
Except after the error, Joseph somehow made the save, the way he always somehow seems to make the difficult look easy.
"The older I get the quicker I get,'' Joseph said jokingly. "I'm like Johnny Fever from that WKRP (In Cincinnati) episode. You know where he is dancing and he just gets faster.''
He gets faster and better. Joseph isn't ready to accept that he has played his best hockey, even though it is difficult to fathom that he can be better. He is forever working on little things, trying to become incrementally better, someone trying to sharpen an already sharp knife.
Last night, in the first period, Jason Allison came around from behind the Leafs net and Joseph attempted something he rarely has done before. He swept his stick from one side of his body to the other and sharply poke-checked the puck from Allison's stick, ending a scoring chance.
He learned the poke check from Leafs backup goalie Glenn Healy, who learned it from Billy Smith.
"I was kind of proud of that,'' Joseph said.
Proud that he brought something new to his game.
This is what these Leafs have to do. They can't sit back and talk about last season because last season is over. They have to find new parts to add to their game. It isn't just Joseph. It is Tomas Kaberle, jumping into the rush. It is Todd Warriner, looking more like he belongs than he ever has looked before. It is Sergei Berezin, with as many assists as goals.
On their own, none of those accomplishments are monumental but, piece by piece, each of them makes the Leafs a better team, a more complete team, the way the addition of free agent Dimitri Yushkevich would make the team that much better.
Joseph likes what he sees so far -- and yes, he, too, says it's only two games -- but he especially likes what he sees in Sundin, who has dedicated himself in the past but never before with the gumption he is showing in the early season.
"There's something about him,'' Joseph said. "He's off to a great start and it's like he is showing everybody he is the captain of the Maple Leafs and he feels very proud about that.''
You know the Leafs are off to a very strong start when their biggest problem last night was spelling. Five of the 20 players introduced in the opening ceremony had their names incorrectly spelled in lights on the ice.
Curtis Joseph's name was not among them. By now, that should be second nature.

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