GAME SUMMARIES
Updated: Sunday January 30, 2000 6:49PM EST
Saturday January 29, 2000 Los Angeles at Toronto
Just hanging around paid off Saturday for Steve Thomas and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Thomas' second goal of the game came with 19 seconds left, and Toronto, which overcame a two-goal deficit, beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-2.
"I was just going by the net and it hit my stick," Thomas said. "Someone is looking down on me."
Two days ago, Thomas scored the winning goal with one minute left as Toronto beat the New York Rangers. Thomas, limited to one goal in his first 28 games, has five goals in the last three games and 13 for the season.
"He can do no wrong now," Toronto goalie Curtis Joseph, who had 29 saves, said. "That just goes to show you to stay with it, don't change your pattern, keep your chin up."
Bryan Berard and Thomas scored 90 seconds apart early in the third period to tie the game, then teamed up for the decisive goal. Berard's wrist shot from the point was deflected by Thomas past goalie Stephane Fiset.
After getting booed by their fans at various stages of the first and second periods, the Leafs came out strong in the third.
Igor Korolev found Berard behind the Kings' defense and Berard skated in alone on Fiset and beat him with a deke to the backhand at 5:02 for his third goal.
Thomas tied it at 6:32 when he flipped Mats Sundin's pass over Fiset.
"I've maintained a good work ethic and good things were bound to happen," Thomas said. "I've been in the right place at the right time lately and maybe this will lead to a good second half."
"I can't question the effort of our team," Los Angeles coach Andy Murray said. "We played hard and worked hard and we got what we deserve. Eventually, things will start to go our way."
Bryan Smolinski and Jere Karalahti scored in the first period for the Kings.
Los Angeles outshot Toronto 31-21 and the Leafs were 0-for-4 on the power play.
Smolinski opened the scoring 4:11 in when his attempted pass across the slot to Jason Blake deflected off Toronto defenseman Tomas Kaberle's stick past Curtis Joseph.
Los Angeles went ahead 2-0 at 13:36 on a power play when Karalahti's slap shot from the point went through a screen created by Blake. Karalahti, a 24-year-old rookie, has three goals and nine points in 16 games since joining the Kings from Finland. He missed the first month of the season waiting for visa problems to be rectified.
Thursday January 27, 2000 Toronto at Ny Rangers
A late-game mistake by Eric Lacroix cost the New York Rangers their longest winning streak in six seasons.
Lacroix was given a four-minute penalty for high-sticking late in the game, and Steve Thomas scored with 60 seconds left in regulation as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Rangers 4-3 Thursday night.
"We had them on the run and then we made the mistake of taking that penalty," Rangers coach John Muckler said. "That's the game, I guess."
The Rangers came back for the second straight game from a 3-1 deficit and were giving the Maple Leafs fits just before the penalty, with 1:56 left in regulation. Thomas came from behind the net to sweep a loose puck into the open right side.
"You don't try to hit somebody in the face or cut somebody when the score's 3-3 with a couple of minutes to go," Lacroix said. "I was covering my point, and (Kevyn) Adams was cutting into the middle and I was just trying to slow him down. Unfortunately, my stick got up."
The Rangers entered the game with a seven-game winning streak, their longest since the 1993-94 season.
The win for Toronto ended a three-game winless streak (0-1-2) and ended a streak of futility at Madison Square Garden. It was the first victory for the Maple Leafs in 10 tries in New York (1-8-1) since a 3-1 victory Dec. 19, 1990.
"Knowing that we haven't won here since 1990 was a motivating factor," Thomas said. "Otherwise, our biggest motivation was just to go out and play well."
Toronto scored on its first power play, at 13:39, to take a 1-0 lead when Jonas Hoglund fired a rebound past goalie Mike Richter.
Theoren Fleury answered back for the Rangers 57 seconds later when his slap shot from the outer left circle hit off the inside of goalie Glenn Healy's glove, popped up in the air and landed behind him in the net.
"When you don't play often, sometimes you don't pick up pucks like you should," Healy said. "I had to battle back from a goal like that, and I did."
Toronto moved ahead 3-1 with goals 47 seconds apart early in the second period. Adams scored at 3:39 off a rebound of Garry Valk's slap shot that Richter came out of the net to save. And at 4:26, Thomas beat Richter cleanly through the legs.
John MacLean flipped a rebound into an empty net at 5:57 to cut the deficit to 3-2. In the third period, New York opened with a power play and Michael York tied the score at 1:07 when he flipped Adam Graves' feed over Healy.
Wednesday January 26, 2000 Toronto at Detroit
For one night, the Detroit Red Wings didn't have to rely on their top line for most of their scoring.
Sergei Fedorov scored his first goal since Dec. 20 and Chris Osgood made 30 saves as the Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 Wednesday night.
Pat Verbeek, Nicklas Lidstrom and Kirk Maltby also scored for the Red Wings, who've won two straight after an 0-3-2 skid. Though they lead the Western Conference with 65 points, they're only 4-5-2 in January mainly because they've relied so much on their top line of Verbeek, Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan.
"In order to be successful you need everybody to contribute, and tonight they did," said Verbeek, whose first-period goal was his sixth in seven games. "Sergei played well tonight, everybody played well tonight. Anytime you win or are in position to win you have to get contributions from everybody."
Detroit coach Scotty Bowman noted his team is healthier than it has been most of the season, particularly up front with the returns of Fedorov, Kris Draper and Maltby from injury.
"I thought it made a difference having everybody back, especially Maltby because he's missed so much," Bowman said.
Maltby has been out most of the season after hernia surgery in October. His third-period breakaway goal was his first of the season.
Steve Thomas and Mats Sundin scored for Toronto.
The victory snapped the Red Wings' four-game winless streak (0-3-1) against Toronto and gave Detroit a 269-268-92 edge in the series.
"I don't think they had to play hard to win this hockey game," Sundin said. "When you come here and Detroit isn't playing their 'A' game and we wait for them to get it going, it's disappointing. It was a great opportunity for us that slipped away."
Toronto remained tied for second in the Eastern Conference with 63 points.
"I'd like to say we were lousy," Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn said. "We weren't lousy, but we weren't as sharp as you'd like, particularly our top players."
Fedorov, who hadn't scored in his last 11 games, gave Detroit a 3-1 lead in the second period. Fedorov missed Detroit's last three games because of a neck injury.
Osgood, 3-5-2 since missing 15 games with a broken hand, played his best game since he returned Jan. 2.
"The last eight periods or three games I've played, I've felt good like I'm getting it back," said Osgood, who was 11-2-3 before the injury. "It just takes a while. I feel like I'm back playing like I did."
Osgood's best saves were point-blank stops on Bryan Berard and Sundin.
"He didn't win the game for them, but I think they got the goaltending they expected from him," Quinn said.
Curtis Joseph made 29 saves for Toronto.
Thomas scored just 3:45 into the game when he one-timed Sundin's pass past Osgood.
Verbeek was standing just outside the crease when Brendan Shanahan's shot bounced off his chest and over Joseph for a power-play goal and a 1-1 tie with 1:29 left in the first.
Lidstrom put the Red Wings ahead 11:40 into the second when his blast from the top of the left circle beat Joseph on his stick side just inside the left post.
Fedorov ended his scoring drought with 2:09 left in the second period when he got open in front of the crease and converted a perfect pass from Yzerman. The goal came two seconds after Sundin came out of the penalty box from one of Toronto's three second-period penalties, including a double-minor.
"We got into penalty problems, and they're a good enough team to capitalize on that," Thomas said. "We've been getting some marginal calls lately, so I guess it's up to us to get more discipline."
After Maltby scored in the third, Sundin got his 23rd goal off a rebound with 1:56 left.
"It wasn't a high-quality game by either team, but we came out on the bad end of the stick," Quinn said. "We had a reasonable first period and then got into a whole lot of trouble with penalties in the second. I don't think our better players played very well."
Monday January 24, 2000 Ottawa at Toronto
The Toronto Maple Leafs are making a habit of falling behind early, and coming back late.
Igor Korolev scored two goals as the Toronto Maple Leafs rallied from a two-goal deficit to tie the Ottawa Senators 3-3 Monday night.
On Saturday, Toronto trailed Washington by two goals early before earning a 5-5 tie.
"I don't know what it is, but since Christmas, whenever we have a few days between games we always start off sluggish," Toronto captain Mats Sundin said. "We have a bad habit of getting down a goal or two."
Korolev, who scored the tying goal early in the third period, has six goals in his last six games. He has 14 goals in 47 games this season, one more than he had in 66 games last season. Mike Johnson also scored for Toronto.
Daniel Alfredsson, Wade Redden and Marian Hossa scored for Ottawa, which outshot Toronto 41-28, including 27-10 during the second and third periods.
"That's what we try to do against Toronto, take shots, because you have to keep shooting against a good goalie like Curtis Joseph," Ottawa defenseman Jason York said. "Give Toronto credit for coming back like they did. And we weren't able to beat CuJo again."
Sundin had the best chance in overtime, but he couldn't corral a loose puck in the crease. The Leafs then had to kill off a holding-the-stick penalty assessed to Sundin.
Toronto coach Pat Quinn didn't agree with the call.
"How many holds and hooks got by all night? I've never seen a dive on a holding-the-stick call," Quinn said.
"The referee was in the right spot to make the call," Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. "We applied pressure, but couldn't score."
Alfredsson opened the scoring at 8:15 of the first, putting a blast from the top of the circle over the glove hand of Joseph, who made 38 saves.
Redden made it 2-0 at 11:25, banging in Yves Sarault's rebound from a sharp angle.
The Leafs got on the board at 17:35 when Korolev converted Bryan Berard's pass from the point on the power play.
Toronto outshot Ottawa 16-10 in the first, but it took almost nine minutes to register a shot on Senators goalie Ron Tugnutt in the second.
By that time, it was 3-1 for Ottawa after Hossa slipped through Toronto's defense and scored on a rebound 44 seconds into the period.
Toronto narrowed it to 3-2 late in the second period when Jonas Hoglund batted the puck out of midair to Johnson, who batted it past Tugnutt.
The Senators lost four defensemen for stretches in the first and second periods. Chris Phillips fell awkwardly into the boards in the first; Janne Laukkanen needed to rest in the second period because of flulike symptoms; Patrick Traverse had a puck deflect off his face; and Jason York took a stick on the chin in the second.
All returned except for Traverse, who was taken to hospital for examination. Laukannen didn't play in the third period, leaving the Senators with just four defensemen.
Toronto left wing Sergei Berezin and defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev returned to the lineup after extended absences. Berezin missed five games with a strained hamstring, and Karpovtsev missed four with a broken hand.
Saturday January 22, 2000 Washington at Toronto
Chris Simon has become more than just a fighter.
Simon scored twice as the Washington Capitals extended their undefeated streak to seven with a 5-5 tie with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
Simon, who scored only three goals last season when he was limited to 23 games by injuries, has 13 this season. His NHL-career best is 16 in 1995-96, when he played for the Colorado Avalanche.
``I think he can score 25 to 30 goals,'' Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. ``You get laughed at when you say that because people know about his pugilistic powers and expect that from him rather than goals.
``But he's a great player. A lot of people have never seen Chris play when he's healthy because he's been hurt so much. Now that he's healthy, this is something we expect from him.''
Ulf Dahlen, Sergei Gonchar and Richard Zednik also scored for the Capitals, who are 8-1-3 in their last 12.
Tomas Kaberle scored twice for the Maple Leafs, and Mats Sundin, Kevyn Adams and Alyn McCauley added goals.
Sundin beat Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig in overtime, but his shot came a second after time expired.
McCauley gave Toronto a 5-4 lead off a goal-mouth scramble at 7:26 of the third period. It was his first goal since last Oct. 23. He's missed 24 games with a concussion, flu and food poisoning.
``I wasn't worrying about not scoring,'' McCauley said. ``You can't let yourself do that. You just keep plugging away and hope one will go in. I'm just happy to get one.''
Zednik tied it 5-5 when he beat Curtis Joseph from the right-wing circle at 18:18.
``I had to go upstairs on Cujo. He's a butterfly goalie and they go down a lot,'' Zednik said.
``It hit me and went into the top of the net,'' Joseph said. ``I thought I had good position, but it found a way to get in.''
In the Capitals' dressing room, Simon said that playing on a line with center Adam Oates is a big reason for his success.
``He's a great passer,'' Simon said. ``It just seemed as if he was finding me every time I was in the open tonight.
``I'm just trying to shoot the puck hard and get it on the net.''
Simon scored 36 goals in 57 OHL games for the Ottawa 67s in 1989-90, so maybe Wilson's prediction of 30 is realistic.
``He's really dedicated himself to being a pro this season and now he's reaping the reward,'' Wilson said.
When Simon wasn't firing pucks past Joseph, he was bothering the Leafs' goalie by crowding the crease.
``I thought the eclipse was a few days ago,'' Joseph said in comparing to the screen created by Simon to the lunar eclipse on Thursday.
Washington took a 1-0 lead when Dahlen outhustled Dmitri Khristich to get the puck behind Toronto's net, skated out front as Khristich waved a stick at him and shoved his own rebound behind Joseph at 4:31.
With Adams off for hooking, Simon lifted a shot into the far top corner past Joseph at 6:27 to make it 2-0.
Kaberle scored on the power play at 16:47 to make it 2-1, but Gonchar jumped on a bad move by Joseph to make it 3-1 34 seconds into the second.
Sundin scored at 10:52 of the second to cut Washington's lead to 3-2. Wendel Clark, in his first home game since joining the Leafs for the third time, passed from behind Washington's net and Sundin back-handed a dribbler past Kolzig for his 22nd goal.
Adams made it 3-3 at 17:45 with a high back-hander, and Kaberle put Toronto ahead with a slap shot from the blue line on a power play at 19:24.
Simon tied it 4-4 54 seconds into the third when he scored on a wrist shot off a pass from Steve Konowalchuk.
Peter Bondra, out since Jan. 4 with a sprained knee, returned to Washington's lineup but did not score.