GAME SUMMARIES
Updated: Saturday January 22, 2000 11:49PM EST
Monday January 17, 2000 Toronto at Vancouver
Steve Thomas' remarkable end-to-end overtime rush gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a last-second victory, and left his teammates in awe. "He looked like Marshall Faulk out there, breaking tackles," goalie Curtis Joseph said, comparing Thomas to the St. Louis Rams running back, after the Maple Leafs' wild 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night."That was one of the best goals I've ever seen by a hockey player," added captain Mats Sundin, who had an assist on the goal, and led the Maple Leafs with a goal and three assists.
"I thought he was done by the red line, but his legs kept going. It looked like there was stuff flying around, and two or three guys hanging all over him. ... First I didn't really think it went in, but he was celebrating in the corner so it was great."
Thomas got the puck at his own blue line and off he went with about 10 seconds left. Making his way through the neutral zone, Thomas cut across the front, holding off two defenders, and managed to get a weak shot off that surprised goalie Felix Potvin, beating him through the legs with 5 seconds left.
It was Thomas' second goal of the night, and his 11th regular-season overtime goal of his career -- first on the all-time list.
"I was just trying to keep my legs moving," Thomas said. "I knew if I got by them I'd have a good chance of getting a good shot. ... This is pretty awesome."
Thomas' individual effort capped a topsy-turvy game in which the Maple Leafs blew a 4-1 lead in the final 11 minutes of the third period.
After Mark Messier cut the Toronto lead to 4-2 at the 9:28 mark of the period, Todd Bertuzzi tied it with two goals in a 15-second span. The franchise record for two goals by one player is 9 seconds, set by Gerry O'Flaherty on March 15, 1974.
Bertuzzi's first goal came when he rifled a shot from the top of the left circle that appeared to deflect off a Toronto stick, beating Joseph over the left shoulder with 5:12 left in the third.
On his game-tying goal, Bertuzzi lifted a weak shot from the left boards that somehow fooled Joseph, beating him just inside the far post.
Joseph, however, redeemed himself in the overtime with two brilliant stops with less than 90 seconds left.
Diving across the crease, he got his chest on Mattias Ohlund's wraparound attempt and he then somehow managed to stop Donald Brashear from in-close on the rebound.
Despite the loss, the Canucks -- 0-4-1, including two overtime losses, in their last five home games -- took the result as a positive, considering they did manage to secure a point.
"We've got to look at it as a positive. The way we came back and got the point," Bertuzzi said.
Coach Marc Crawford, perhaps, summed it up best, saying: "Thank God we got the point."
Brashear also scored, and Ohlund had two assists for the Canucks, who avoided dropping into a three-way tie for last place in the Western Conference. The Canucks have 41 points, one more than Nashville and Chicago.
Jonas Hoglund had a goal and assist, and Igor Korolev also scored for the Maple Leafs, 10-0-0 in games in which Korolev scores. Toronto improved to 27-16-4, second best in the NHL.
Toronto appeared to have the game in hand when Sundin broke a 1-1 tie with a power-play goal with 7:02 left in the second. Thomas made it 3-1 with 1:03 left in the frame and Korolev scored 8:57 into the third.
The Maple Leafs enjoyed their best offensive output in seven games, dating to a 6-2 victory over Buffalo on Jan. 3.
Potvin, who faced 30 shots, is winless in his last six games (0-5-1). He is 1-5-1 since being acquired by the Canucks last month from the New York Islanders.
Thomas considered the overtime goal among his most special. Asked his secret to scoring in the extra period, he said: "I just love that feeling when you score the goal. There's really nothing better than that. And I just want to be that guy."
Saturday January 15, 2000 Toronto at Calgary
Two days after being passed over for the All-Star game, Calgary goalie Fred Brathwaite showed why he was such a strong candidate.
Brathwaite made 25 saves and defenseman Bobby Dollas led a supporting cast of scorers as the Calgary Flames beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0 Saturday night.
"It's fun to play behind these guys right now," Brathwaite said. "The effort again was 110 percent from everybody. For us, we're not used to having a 4-0 lead but, to our credit, the guys still played like it was 1-0."
Since taking over the number one role from Grant Fuhr, Brathwaite is 14-10-3 and is near or at the top of the league in most statistical categories.
"I don't think we gave him a lot of real tough chances, but he cut the angles down and didn't give us many second shots and made the stops look easy," said Wendel Clark, playing in his second game since signing with Toronto on Friday. "When a goalie is playing well, he makes stops look easy, so give him credit."
Looking nothing like a matchup between the lowest scoring team in the Western Conference and the second-highest in the East, Calgary scored twice in the first period than twice more early in the second to establish a 4-0 lead.
After Valeri Bure's 21st goal, 5:27 into the first, gave Calgary a 1-0 lead, Dollas scored his first goal of the season at 15:32. Dollas took a pass from Bure and, from the top of the faceoff circle, rifled a slap shot just inside the goalpost.
"Personally, this is one of the hardest working teams I've ever played on," said Dollas, now with his seventh NHL club. "If you're going to beat us, it's going to be through hard work and I don't think there's any team that works harder than us.
"We have one or two good hockey players and the rest of us get the lunch pails out."
Jason Wiemer with his fourth goal and Rene Corbet with his second also scored for the Flames, who have won three in a row and are 11-1-1 in their last 13 at home.
Before a Canadian Airlines Saddledome crowd of 17,145, Calgary's second sellout of the season, the Flames also moved above the .500 mark for the first time this far into a season since the lockout-shortened 1994-95 campaign.
"They're playing excellent hockey right now," Clark said. "Freddie's playing excellent in net and they're getting opportunistic goals and that's the way you win hockey games."
The win moves Calgary one point ahead of the Edmonton Oilers in the Northwest Division. It is also the Flames' first victory in 10 games against Toronto after losing nine straight dating to Feb. 17, 1997.
Toronto, which won Friday night in Edmonton, was outshot 33-25.
"Every team in this league has to play back-to-back games so that's no excuse to come back with a poor effort," Maple Leafs left-wing Mike Johnson said. "They just played harder than we did winning the battles in all the important areas."
Wiemer's goal at 6:14 of the second, that made it 3-0, was the best of the night.
On a 2-on-1 break, Martin St. Louis fed a perfect cross-ice pass to an outstretched Wiemer who fired the puck high over Healy.
Friday January 14, 2000 Toronto at Edmonton
Curtis Joseph still has a hex over the Edmonton Oilers.
Joseph beat his former teammates for the fifth consecutive time as the Toronto Maple Leafs rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 3-2 win Friday night on Mats Sundin's goal at 2:59 of overtime.
"It was a good gritty effort for us," said Joseph, who made 20 saves. "When you watch Wendel (Clark) out there banging, I think he was an inspiration for us."
Clark made his return to the Leafs after signing a contract Jan. 9. Clark was assessed a minor penalty for roughing following an exchange with Edmonton's Sean Brown at 6:01 of the first period.
He also made an excellent pass to set up Nikolai Antropov for a good chance at 16:38 of the third.
"Wendel's tongue was hanging out a few times when he stayed out too long," Toronto coach Pat Quinn said. "But he handled himself very well."
Clark agreed he dealt with a measure of fatigue in his first game in two months. He was released Nov. 19 by the Chicago Blackhawks.
"Game conditions are definitely not like renting the ice on your own," he said. "I think I felt better as the game went on. I blew the dust off in the dressing room. It's always fun right where you started."
Todd Marchant and Ryan Smyth scored in the second period for Edmonton.
Garry Valk and Igor Korolev tied the game early in the third.
The Oilers were disappointed because they squandered a two-goal lead at home for the second straight game.
"We have to be smarter when we have the lead," Mike Grier said. "We have to forecheck and make them play the whole rink to beat us."
Grier stressed that Joseph "always seems to make that one save that will give his team a chance.
"He plays big in the net," Grier said. "He takes away the whole bottom half."
Valk's backhander from the slot just slid over the goal-line to cut the Edmonton lead to 2-1 at 2:29 of the third. Korolev tied it with a deflection off Dmitri Khristich's pass at 5:37.
"We didn't let up on them, especially in the second half," Valk said. "We knew this team gave up a two-goal lead a couple of nights ago against Dallas. We have good depth. Our line contributed in the third period."
Toronto's Tie Domi left late in the first period after jamming the butt end of his stick in his chest during play along the end boards. He didn't return.
Tuesday January 11, 2000 Toronto at Boston
When Igor Korolev scores, Toronto wins. It's been as simple as that so far this season.
The Maple Leafs forward scored twice, including the game-winner, and Dmitri Khristich had two assists against the team that walked away from him to lead Toronto to a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins.
The win improved Toronto's record to 8-0 when Korolev has scored.
"I don't have an explanation for that," he said. "But it's really nice. I'm not complaining."
Curtis Joseph stopped 33 shots for the Maple Leafs, who won for just the second time in six games. Korolev scored Toronto's first goal, then added the game-winner 8:31 into the third period.
"I like the way he plays, whether he's scoring or not," Toronto coach Pat Quinn said. "If he kicks it in, it's a bonus."
Rob Tallas made 23 saves for the Bruins, who are winless (0-4-2) in six games and have won just once in 11 games. Anson Carter scored to tie it 2-2, but missed twice in the final minute after Tallas was pulled for an extra skater.
The Bruins were without Jason Allison, their top scorer the last two seasons, who said Tuesday that he will miss the rest of the season to have surgeries on his left thumb and right wrist. Sergei Samsonov has missed three games with a strained knee.
"We're in a tough hole with our best player (Allison) missing," defenseman Ray Bourque said. "But we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We all have to step up."
Bruins coach Pat Burns, whose team would miss the playoffs if the season ended Tuesday, did get a little sympathy from Quinn.
"Let's face it, they're decimated with injuries. They've lost some important guys," he said of reports that Burns' job was in jeopardy. "In my mind, it's really unfair what's happening now."
Khristich won a $2.8 million arbitration award from the Bruins this fall but the team "walked away" from the decision -- the first time an NHL team took advantage of the right negotiated as part of the collective bargaining agreement that ended the 1994-95 lockout.
He signed a four-year, $10 million deal with the Maple Leafs and scored a goal in his first game against his former team Nov. 11. But Toronto lost that one, 4-3 in overtime.
The Maple Leafs were able to win this time, stopping their slide with two quick goals early and Korolev's tie-breaker late.
"It's a good feeling," Khristich said. "But mostly because we started on the right note for a road trip."
Korolev took a pass from Khristich, just as a Bruins penalty was expiring, and flipped the puck over Tallas to make it 1-0 at 11:17 of the first. Just 101 seconds later, Khristich found Mats Sundin, who put it through Tallas' legs to make it 2-0.
Steve Heinze chipped the rebound of a Marquis Mathieu shot over Joseph to make it 2-1 early in the second. Boston tied it just 23 seconds into the third when Carter tipped P.J. Axelsson's cross into the net.
Saturday January 8, 2000 Ny Rangers at Toronto
Petr Nedved scored three times Saturday night to lead the New York Rangers to a 5-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Nedved, centering a new line with fellow Czechs Radek Dvorak and Jan Hlavac, scored once in each period, including a power-play goal in the second.
The game-winner, with eight minutes left in the third, was a seeing-eye snap shot from near the right boards that eluded goalie Glenn Healy high on his blocker side.
Nedved had gone 12 games without a goal before scoring at home Wednesday against the Leafs.
Toronto's Curtis Joseph was given the night off after allowing four goals in a loss to Pittsburgh on Friday night.
The Maple Leafs lost for the fourth time in five games following a season-high six-game winning streak.
Toronto held three one-goal leads, but the Rangers came back to tie it each time. Adam Graves and John McLean had the other goals for the Rangers. Kris King, Mats Sundin and Sergei Berezin scored for the Leafs.
Tie Domi, with another strong game for Toronto, barely missed tying the game with four minutes left. After a close shot, the puck slid across the crease behind Rangers goalie Mike Richter.
McLean sealed the win for New York by finishing off a pretty 2-on-1 with Valeri Kamensky two minutes later.
Richter kept the Rangers in the game with several key saves in the first and stopped 31 shots to earn the victory.
The teams exchanged power-play goals in the second. Sundin scored on a give-and-go one-timer on a pass from Steve Thomas. Rangers forward Alexandre Daigle was in the penalty box at the time for taking down Bryan Berard on a partial breakaway.
A pointless right hook from Leafs defenseman Chris McAllister to Eric Lacroix in the corner led to a Rangers power play and Nedved's second goal.
Nedved's waist-high deflection of a Kevin Hatcher point shot was allowed to stand after video review. King got his first goal on a first-period wrist shot from the left circle that rose sharply above Richter's blocker.
Nedved tied it on a screen shot that went between defenseman Tomas Kaberle's legs before beating Healy.
Friday January 7, 2000 Toronto at Pittsburgh
Matthew Barnaby got Toronto goalie Curtis Joseph's attention with some rough play. Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn is still trying to get the referees to take notice.
"I'd like to take a stick and hit them over the head, but you can't do that," Quinn said after Toronto's 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.
"What do you do? You cry. I'm sitting here crying."
The Penguins were only called for three penalties, none of them involving contact with Joseph. Quinn and Joseph were particularly upset about a sequence that led to Michal Rozsival's goal that gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead.
"They ran the goaltender on it. He hadn't recovered when it goes in the net," Quinn said. "They ran the goaltender several times and it seemed to be all right."
Pittsburgh coach Herb Brooks won for the 200th time in his NHL coaching victory. Brooks, 10-4 since replacing Kevin Constantine on Dec. 9, has a career record of 200-202-61 with the New York Rangers, Minnesota, New Jersey and Pittsburgh.
Alexei Kovalev scored a short-handed goal with 2:01 left in the second period to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead. Kovalev's first shot was blocked by defenseman Alexander Karpotsev, but the Pittsburgh forward was able to get the puck through goalie Curtis Joseph's pads for his 15th goal.
Darius Kasparaitis, Michal Rozsival, Jan Hrdina and Martin Straka also scored for the Penguins. Dimitri Yushkevich and Jonas Hoglund scored for the Maple Leafs, 1-3 since a season-best six-game winning streak.
Kasparaitis scored on the first shot of the night, one game after Brooks complained that his team didn't shoot enough.
"We had a meeting before the game about how we have to concentrate on putting the puck on net," Kasparaitis said. "I just threw it on the net and sometimes it goes in. I didn't even know I scored until I saw the light."
Brooks said he told the players they had to shoot more, particularly against a goalie as skilled as Joseph. After Wednesday night's 3-1 loss to New Jersey, he complained that the Penguins were trying too hard to make finesse plays and overpassing the puck. He said his players were "painting the Sistine Chapel and we want someone to paint a garage."
Hoglund tied it with 4:09 left in the first period, scoring off Steve Thomas' pass from behind the net.
After Kovalev broke the tie late in the second, Rozsival made it 3-1 at 2:36 of the third, firing a shot from the point that went in just under the crossbar.
Yushkevich countered for the Maple Leafs at 3:51, but Hrdina countered for the Penguins at 5:40 to restore the two-goal margin. Straka added an empty-net goal with 1:04 left.
Jaromir Jagr assisted on Pittsburgh's final two goals to increase his NHL-leading points total to 70. He has 32 goals and 38 assists in 38 games.
Wednesday January 5, 2000 Toronto at Ny Rangers
The New York Rangers picked the toughest opponent in the Eastern Conference to get their first win in nearly three weeks.
Adam Graves' goal with less than 34 seconds left in overtime Wednesday night gave New York a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs, snapping the Rangers' seven-game winless streak.
The wide-open contest matching the struggling Rangers against the conference-leading Maple Leafs, featured numerous odd-man breaks and was a marked contrast to the trapping defensive matches normally found in the East.
"A game like that is really an entertaining game," Rangers coach John Muckler said. "The skill level was good on both sides, sensational saves on both ends, it's just a shame the game can't be played like that all the time."
Theo Fleury set up the game-winner by skating over the Toronto blue line, moving across the ice and sending a pass to Graves, who one-timed his 14th goal past Curtis Joseph.
"I'm sure they would like to schedule 82 games against us because we find a way to release the better play out of them," Toronto coach Pat Quinn said.
It was the fifth time in six games -- and 10th in 14 contests -- that the Rangers went into overtime. The Rangers, 0-4-3 with one regulation tie in their previous seven, had not won since beating Tampa Bay in overtime Dec. 19.
Mats Sundin pulled Toronto into a 2-2 tie at 5:07 of the third period. Sundin took a crisp pass from Tie Domi, between Rangers defenseman Kevin Hatcher's legs, and slipped the puck past Mike Richter from point blank range for his 17th goal.
Richter made 26 saves and played an outstanding game in earning his ninth win. Joseph stopped 37 shots and dropped to 20-9-4.
Petr Nedved staked New York to a 1-0 lead at 2:19 of the second.
Radek Dvorak sprung him down the right wing and Nedved beat Joseph low on the stick side with a snap shot from the circle for his eighth goal.
Nedved, skating for the first time on an all Czech line with the newly acquired Dvorak and Jan Hlavac, scored for the first time in 12 games, dating to Nov. 24.
"We create a lot of chances," Nedved said of the new combination. "I think we use a lot of speed out there and passing and I thought we played a pretty decent game."
Joseph made a blunder that led to the second New York goal. He gloved a shot and threw it forward into the slot, where John MacLean pounced on it and hit the open net for his sixth.
Kevyn Adams answered for the Maple Leafs at 6:21, converting a wraparound pass from Kris King, for his second goal.
Monday January 3, 2000 Buffalo at Toronto
The Toronto Maple Leafs turned the tables on the Buffalo Sabres.
The Leafs beat the Sabres 6-2 Monday night after being humbled 8-1 on Saturday at Buffalo in their worst outing of the season.
"It was a good bounce-back effort," Toronto coach Pat Quinn said. "It was a humiliating night and we certainly competed better around the puck."
Toronto was led by a near-unstoppable Sergei Berezin, who took 11 shots on goal -- the most on the team this season. He scored twice, added an assist and just missed a hat trick on a 2-on-1 late in the game.
"We felt very bad and it felt good to get six goals," Berezin said. "The whole team played a strong game. We needed a good start. They play differently when they get ahead."
The Leafs scored the first five goals in a game that was never in doubt.
Igor Korolev also had two goals and Dmitri Khristich had one for Toronto. Rookie Kevyn Adams scored his first career goal and Curtis Joseph made 27 saves for his 20th victory.
"It was up to us to undo what happened, and we showed a lot of professionalism," said Adams, who has drawn praise for his hard work since being called up from the AHL on Dec. 11.
Buffalo rookie goalie Martin Biron was pulled to start the third period after giving up four goals on 28 shots. James Patrick and Curtis Brown scored for Buffalo.
The win gave the Maple Leafs the best record in the Eastern Conference and coach Pat Quinn the coaching duties behind the North American bench at the NHL All-Star game being held in Toronto.
"I was going to be around anyway ... but this is an extra special gift," said Quinn, who last coached at the All-Star game in 1981.
The Maple Leafs line of Tie Domi, Nik Antropov and Khristich set the tone from the opening faceoff.
"Tie had a couple chances to score," Quinn said. "I think he has continued to get better and has played great for us."
Toronto, with the NHL's ninth-best power play, took advantage by scoring twice on its first three man-advantage opportunities. The Maple leafs finished the game 3-for-7.
"They got those power-play goals and they started to take the play," Patrick said. "They had an off night (Saturday) and we knew it would be a tough game."
The bitterness from Saturday's game came out late in the second period after Berezin made it a 4-1 at 13:29. Antropov got into his first fight and the big rookie held his own against Cory Sarich.
During the fight Domi and Rob Ray got together, but did not drop their gloves. Ray was left on for the next faceoff and Quinn took Domi off. They continued to taunt each other and were given misconducts.
Saturday January 1, 2000 Toronto at Buffalo
Curtis Joseph didn't feel the moderate earthquake that rattled western New York and southern Ontario province.
But the Toronto goalie got his own version of an aftershock later on Saturday when the Sabres routed the Maple Leafs 8-1.
Erik Rasmussen, Maxim Afinogenov and Stu Barnes each scored twice for Buffalo, which had struggled since losing to the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup finals.
"They did a lot of good things out there, got a lot of bodies in front of the net and created a lot of two-on-ones," said Joseph, whose team suffered its largest margin of defeat since an 8-1 loss to Detroit in December 1997. "They didn't look to me like a team that hadn't been playing well."
Wayne Primeau and Michael Peca added goals, Curtis Brown had four assists for a career high in points, and Martin Biron made 17 saves as Buffalo outshot Toronto 35-18.
"The heat wasn't on me tonight," said Biron, a rookie, playing in place of injured Dominik Hasek. "We got some great bounces."
Buffalo had its highest goal total since an 8-3 victory in Montreal in March 1993 and recorded its first New Year's Day win after a string of four losses and a tie stretching to 1971.
Mats Sundin scored for the Eastern Conference-leading Maple Leafs, who were beaten by the Sabres in last season's semifinals.
"It was a bad game all around," Sundin said. "You could tell we weren't ready to play."
The teams play again Monday night in Toronto.
"You expect some off games, but nothing like that," Leafs coach Pat Quinn said.
It was the most goals allowed by the Maple Leafs this season, and the six goals through two periods matched the most allowed by Joseph in a game in his two years with Toronto. It also was the most goals allowed by the Leafs since an 8-5 loss to San Jose last March.
"The first one he didn't see because it was a screen shot," Rasmussen said. "The second one was a great play, so there's two shots and two goals. When that happens to a goalie, he starts to ask questions."
Joseph went into the game with a 1.98 goals-against average and 92.8 save percentage. He faced 25 shots and made 19 saves before Quinn replaced him with Glenn Healy to start the third.
Healy allowed two goals on 10 shots.
"We let our goalies down," said Toronto defenseman Bryan Berard, who was minus-5 in the game. "It was embarrassing."
Buffalo scored twice in a 1:06 span in the first period as the Sabres rebounded from a 7-2 loss to Detroit on Tuesday night.
Rasmussen scored on Buffalo's first shift just 48 seconds into the game with a floating wrist shot from between the top of the circles. Primeau scored at 1:54 off Miroslav Satan's pass from behind the net.
Steve Thomas backhanded a pass from behind the net to Sundin for the Maple Leafs' 10th power-play goal in nine games.
Rasmussen scored his second goal with 3:12 left in the first period, tipping a blast from Peca under Joseph's glove.
Buffalo started the second with another pair of quick goals, the first on a one-timer by Peca at 57 seconds.
Primeau jarred the puck loose with a fierce forecheck on Berard behind the net and fed Afinogenov for an easy goal and a 5-1 lead at 1:53.
Afinogenov's 10th of the season with 1:06 left in the second moved him into a tie for the rookie goal-scoring lead with the New York Rangers' Michael York. Barnes added two third-period goals, the first at 2:38 and the second on a power play at 6:00.
Primeau injured his left thigh in the first period and did not return. Buffalo defenseman Rhett Warrener left the game in the second because of a strained hip muscle.
Buffalo's Rob Ray drew a misconduct after Toronto's Tie Domi pushed Ray's helmet down over his face, and Ray turned and smacked Domi in the face with five minutes to play. Domi drew his own misconduct seconds later when he punched Peca.