Finding their balance

It's wonderful that Phil Kessel is off to yet another terrific start, but if the Toronto Maple Leafs think they're going to make the playoffs as a one-line team, they're dreaming.

Kessel, the NHL's first star of the week after firing five goals and seven points in Toronto's first three games, scored his sixth goal of the season Monday night. His individual heroics were not enough as the Maple Leafs suffered their first loss of the season, a 3-2 overtime decision to the visiting Colorado Avalanche.

The good news is Toronto has points in all four of their games this season. Still, with his team looking otherwise sluggish through the first 40-plus minutes, coach Ron Wilson decided to do a little line juggling in the third period. He pulled centre Tyler Bozak from the top line, featuring Kessel and Joffrey Lupul, replacing him with Matthew Lombardi, except for faceoffs in the Colorado zone and then sent out specialist David Steckel.

Wilson even tinkered with the Grabovski-Kulemin-MacArthur trio, by replacing MacArthur with Mike Brown for a bit. However, it was Grabovski, Kulemin and MacArthur on the ice when Kulemin scored his first goal of the season to force overtime.

MacArthur was pleased to take a little pressure off the Kessel line.

"They've been doing a good job and I felt we needed to step up and help out," MacArthur said. "I thought in the second period we should have had three goals. We had a post and I missed an empty net so it's coming. We made some good little plays. It would have been nice to score one earlier and put some heat on Colorado, but it was a good job by us to at least get the point."

MacArthur said it's very important that the Leafs have a balanced attack this year.

"We worry about our line getting better and we know (the Kessel line) is going to get better, too," MacArthur explained. "That's what good teams do; they have two lines scoring. When one line is not scoring, another line picks up the slack. They are doing a great job and hopefully we get a few bounces here and there. I think I'm going to take my stick home and sleep with it…and see what happens."

The Leafs have high hopes that the Grabovski-Kulemin-MacArthur trio will challenge the Kessel line in terms of offensive production this season. So much so that coach Ron Wilson refused to identify one over the other in terms of being the team's No. 1 line during pre-season.

MacArthur was suspended for the first two games, while Grabovski, who is in a contract year, has scored only once so far. MacArthur was not at all happy with his play in his debut Saturday night against Calgary, but felt he played better against the Avs. He is coming off a breakout year with the Leafs where he scored 21 goals and 62 points in 82 games. Kulemin had 30 goals and Grabovski managed 29.

Entering Monday night's game, the Leafs had scored 11 goals and the Kessel line had

contributed seven. Tough guy Colton Orr, who has only seen action in one game, had one, defenceman Dion Phaneuf had another and Lombardi, still trying to find his rhythm, had a shorthanded effort. Lombardi appears to be gaining momentum with more ice time.

Wilson was impressed with the work ethic by Kulemin on his game-tying goal.

"It was finding a way to get the puck on the net and then getting to the front, so not only did he keep the puck in, but he did what we have been encouraging our forwards to do which is to drive to the front of the net and he got a rebound and scored," Wilson said.

The coach also tried to stay positive despite the defeat.

"For us it's a good point," he said. "I thought as the third period got going they looked like they were at the end of a road trip and we looked like we had more energy. We had a number of chances and we finally tied it up, but we weren't getting the offence we needed so we started moving things around. It kind of gives a little jolt of energy to some guys who are rewarded by moving up in the lineup and maybe a slap in the behind for the guys who skipped a shift because we weren't moving our feet as well as we can.

NOTES: In Toronto's third game of the year, Mike Brown took a goaltender interference penalty late in the third period giving Calgary a great chance to tie the game In game four he was accused of knocking the net off in the third period forcing the ensuing faceoff to be taken outside of the Colorado zone. Brown's energy is a great commodity, but he needs to straddle the line a little better to not to hurt his team…After a great night in the faceoff circle Saturday against Calgary, the Leafs were 22-39 vs. the Avs…Cody Franson has a great shot, but we haven't seen one in his first two games with Toronto…Captain Dion Phaneuf led the Leafs in ice time with 28:04…

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy will cover the Toronto Maple Leafs for sportsnet.ca for the 2011/12 season.