BY LOUIS JEAN
sportsnet.ca

After getting shut out by the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs responded by blanking the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 at the Bell Center.

The post-game chatter wasn't about the victory, rather, the status of netminder Jonas Gustavsson.

The 25-year-old backstop left the game after the first period and was taken to hospital for precautionary reasons because of an elevated heart rate. Gustavsson will remain in hospital overnight.

"He had that same sensation in training camp when his heart started to race but it came down and it came down on its own in the room," head coach Ron Wilson explained. "We wanted to be cautious and obviously any situation with your heart can turn out to be serious so he'll spend the night in the hospital and will go back to Toronto tomorrow to see a cardiologist. We don't expect there to be anything serious or long term."

Gustavsson underwent a catheter ablation in September after feeling dizzy during off ice-work outs. It was described by the Maple Leafs as a minor heart procedure.

"We were all concerned and worried that he couldn't get his heartbeat down and couldn't seem to settle down and relax. He played a huge 20 minutes for us got us off on a great start and made some huge saves," Mike Komisarek said.

Joey MacDonald held the fort for the final 40 minutes of play, turning aside 18 shots to help the Maple Leafs earn their first shutout of the campaign.

"Hopefully he'll (Gustavsson) be fine and we'll go on. As for the team we'll build off this. It's a big win," MacDonald said.

The Leafs will travel to Columbus on Wednesday and are not expected to practice. They may not be forced to call up a goaltender however as Vesa Toskala, who accompanied the team on the current road trip, hinted he may be ready to return to the line-up on Thursday. Toskala hasn't played since injuring his groin on November 23.