Score one for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Rather, make that score three for the Leafs. When the smoke from the Def Leppard concert cleared and the Stanley Cup presentation ceremony was over, all that was left was the actual game of hockey between the defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Let’s start with the end first. 3-2 Maple Leafs win. While the Red Wings held the Cup over their heads for press photos, the Maple Leafs sat stoically on their bench. Their time would come 60 minutes of play later after scoring a goal in each of the three periods. Though the momentum seemed to favor the Red Wings early on, a misplaced pass in the Red Wings zone led to a Toronto goal with only 25 seconds left in the first period.

From that point on the Toronto Maple Leafs neither lost the lead nor dropped to a tie with the Red Wings. They played with a great sense of attack and intensity, and their goalie Vesa Toskala held his ground during the last minutes of play when the Red Wings offense began to surge and pressure hard–especially during the power play for the final 30 seconds of the game.

The Maple leafs are on a quest to show that this is a brand new Toronto program. So far, in beating last year’s best team, they have proved just that.