It was a simple play, helped in part by the innate goal scorer's sense of being in the right place at the right time.

But when Phil Kessel buried a juicy rebound into the New Jersey Devils net late in a sleepy first period Thursday night, it was his 27th goal of this lost NHL season.

And it was there that the case for Kessel as an invaluable Maple Leaf of the future becomes worthy of some analytical endorsement.