GAME SUMMARIES
Updated: Friday March 26, 1999 10:39PM EST
Friday March 26, 1999 Toronto at Carolina
Steve Thomas and Fredrik Modin scored two goals each to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 7-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.
Steve Sullivan added three assists and Thomas and Mats Sundin had two apiece as Toronto, the NHL's highest scoring team, reached seven goals in a game for the fifth time this season. The Hurricanes had not given up seven goals in a game since a 7-1 loss to Pittsburgh in November 1996.
The Maple Leafs, who were coming off an 8-5 loss to San Jose on Wednesday, put the Hurricanes down 3-0 in the first 8:10 of Friday night's game.
Carolina coach Paul Maurice pulled goaltender Arturs Irbe after Toronto scored on its first three shots in a span of 1:39.
Sundin intercepted a clearing attempt by Irbe behind the goal and found Thomas, who ripped a shot into the net at 6:31 of the first period before Irbe could get back.
Eight seconds later, Sergei Berezin blasted a shot under Irbe from the left circle to put Toronto up 2-0.
Sullivan set up Toronto's third goal, stealing the puck from Dave Karpa deep in the Hurricanes' zone and finding Derek King, who stuffed a shot under Irbe with 11:50 left in the period.
Maurice replaced Irbe with Trevor Kidd after King's goal and the Hurricanes trimmed the lead to 3-1 just 17 seconds later. Keith Primeau was trailing a rush by Martin Gelinas when he poked a shot past Toronto goaltender Curtis Joseph.
Kidd made four saves the rest of the period but the Maple Leafs scored two goals early in the second.
Thomas scored his second goal of the game 14 seconds into a penalty to Steve Halko, lifting a shot over Kidd's shoulder with 17:38 left in the period. Modin beat Kidd four minutes later while diving forward to reach a pass from Sundin out of the corner.
Tie Domi and Modin added goals in the final six minutes of the period. Paul Ranheim scored with 10.3 seconds left in the game for Carolina.
Joseph made 23 saves for the Maple Leafs, who won for just the second time in six games. The Hurricanes lost for the fourth time in their last five.
Wednesday March 24, 1999 San Jose at Toronto
Newly acquired Vincente Damphousse made an immediate impact with two goals and Joe Murphy had a goal and a pair of assists as the San Jose Sharks extended their season-high unbeaten streak to seven games with an 8-5 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Damphousse, who came from Montreal on Tuesday for two draft picks and future considerations, notched his first two-goal game of the season as the Sharks improved to 5-0-2 in its last seven games.
Jeff Friesen, Murray Craven, Owen Nolan and Mike Rathje each had a goal and an assist for San Jose, which moved within one point of the St. Louis Blues for sixth place in the Western Conference.
The Sharks had their best offensive output of the season and fell two goals short of the team record, a 10-8 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 13, 1996.
Derek King scored twice and Mats Sundin had a goal and an assist for Toronto, which lost for the fourth time in five games and remained eight points behind Ottawa for the lead in the Northeast Division.
Monday March 22, 1999 Philadelphia at Toronto
As far as Toronto coach Pat Quinn is concerned, the Philadelphia Flyers were lacking a little class around the Maple Leafs' net.
What the Flyers didn't lack was a scoring touch, with three goals in the second period for a 3-1 victory Monday night over the Maple Leafs.
"We've talked to the league about running goalies, and why (referees) won't call it, I don't know," Quinn said. "We're going to have to start running goaltenders for the teams who do it (to us)."
Eric Lindros, who scored his 40th goal of the season, said the Flyers won't make apologies for playing aggressively around the opposition's crease.
"That's the way we play. We cycle the puck and rotate it," Lindros said. "That's how we get a lot of goals.
"It's not finesse all the time. We have to crash the net."
And as for Quinn's threat to crash the Philadelphia net next time around?
"He said that last time we played here and we won (3-0)," said Lindros, whose goal was his 600th career point.
Dave Babych and Dan McGillis also scored for Philadelphia, which won for the second time in a row following a franchise-record 12-game winless streak.
The Flyers moved into a tie for fifth place in the Eastern Conference with Toronto, one point behind Pittsburgh. The Leafs have 12 games left, the Flyers 11 and the Penguins 13.
Philadelphia outshot Toronto 18-4 in the pivotal second period.
"Everybody played hard," said Flyers assistant coach Craig Ramsay. "We were determined to make something good happen, and the special teams came through for us."
Toronto opened the scoring 10:54 into the first period when Mats Sundin scored his 25th of the season, deking defenseman Karl Dykhuis and beat goalie John Vanbiesbrouck over his glove hand.
Babych got the Flyers' outburst started by banking a shot in off goalie Curtis Joseph's left pad from the side of the net on a power play at 8:36.
McGillis put Philadelphia ahead at 9:17 by one-timing a centering pass from Rod Brind'Amour. Lindros made it 3-1 on a power play at 18:14, converting a behind-the-net pass from John LeClair.
"In the second period, we just quit playing," said Quinn.
The Maple Leafs came to life in the third period, but were stonewalled by Vanbiesbrouck. Steve Thomas was stymied from pointblank range early in the period.
Philadelphia right-winger Mark Recchi left the game in the second period with a concussion.
Saturday March 20, 1999 New Jersey at Toronto
Curtis Joseph made 30 saves for his 30th win of the season as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-1 Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre.
Steve Sullivan, Todd Warriner and Fredrik Modin, in his first game back since breaking his collar bone, scored for Toronto. All the goals came during the second period.
Brendan Morrison scored for New Jersey.
Joseph, who recorded his fourth 30-win season, joined New Jersey's Martin Brodeur (32 wins) and Dallas' Ed Belfour (30) as the only goalies to reach that plateau this season.
Brodeur made 25 saves for the Devils, who ended their four-game winning streak.
The Maple Leafs welcomed the reunion of their top line of Modin, Mats Sundin and Steve Thomas. Modin, who missed 14 games with the injury he suffered in the last game at Maple Leaf Gardens, made his Air Canada Centre debut a good one.
Modin took a give-and-go from Sundin for his 14th goal and first since Jan. 4. Thomas, who also assisted on the goal, was sidelined three games with a broken big toe.
Sullivan, who had the crowd roaring with a big check on Lyle Odelein and with a breakaway in the second, scored his 14th off a cross-ice feed from Mike Johnson. Warriner put the game out of reach after he took a pass from Tie Domi to put the Maple Leafs ahead 3-0.
Morrison scored with a power-play goal 6:49 into the third period, but Bobby Holik was given a major and game misconduct for slashing Igor Korolev a minute later, killing New Jersey's momentum.
Thursday March 18, 1999 Boston at Toronto
Winning in Toronto has been tough for the Boston Bruins in the '90s. The Bruins finally ended a six-game winless streak in the Canadian city dating back to Jan. 22, 1992, with a 4-1 victory over the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.
"It was a close game," said Boston coach Pat Burns. "They played us tight, but our special teams made a big difference and today it was the deciding factor."
Boston scored twice on six power plays and held Toronto scoreless on its four advantages.
"It was an even game, really," said Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn, who saw his club fall to 10-10-2 since the All-Star break. "But they were patient and waited for us to make mistakes."
Jason Allison scored on a breakaway with 6:31 remaining to break a 1-1 tie. Dimitri Khristich, who assisted on the goal for his 500th NHL point, scored a power-play goal 1:42 later and Anson Carter clinched it with an empty-netter in the final 10 seconds.
Rob DiMaio also scored for Boston and Byron Dafoe made 25 saves for his 24th win of the season as the Bruins ended an 0-3-3 streak in Toronto.
"(Dafoe's) been unbelievable for us the whole season," Carter said. "It's coming down to the playoff stretch and we can't afford to lose two points."
Igor Korolev scored for the Maple Leafs, who are 3-for-46 on the power play in their last 13 games.
It was a quiet game until Boston's Landon Wilson was awarded a penalty shot 7:41 into the second period when defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev hauled him down on a breakaway. But Wilson, a former first-round pick of the Maple Leafs in 1993, didn't even hit the net on the penalty shot as he snapped a wrist shot off the glass.
The last time a Maple Leafs goalie stopped a penalty shot at home was Jan. 5, 1991, when Peter Ing denied Wayne Gretzky of Los Angeles.
The Bruins finally broke the scoreless game six minutes later with DiMaio's power-play blast from the top of the circle. The Maple Leafs tied it midway through the third just after Tie Domi stepped out of the penalty box. Domi chipped a pass while falling to Korolev, who shot it past an out-of-position Dafoe.
"I thought when it was 1-1 we were starting to come back," said Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin. "We battled well, but we gave up a few weak goals. They were the better team tonight, for sure."
Saturday March 13, 1999 Toronto at Montreal
The Montreal Canadiens won a game after the Toronto Maple Leafs lost a goal.
Tie Domi's apparent tying goal with just under two minutes remaining was disallowed because of a crease infraction, allowing the Canadiens to pull out a 2-1 victory on Saturday night.
Replay officials ruled that Domi was in the crease when Derek King's pass banked off his skate and into the net.
"At first I thought it hit my skate, but then I think it went off (Montreal defenseman Vladimir) Malakhov," said Domi. "We clearly weren't in the crease when the puck crossed the line."
Sergei Zholtok scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and Jeff Hackett made 27 saves as the Canadiens evened the season series with the Maple Leafs at two wins apiece.
"This was one of the best games we've seen at the Molson Centre this season," said Montreal coach Alain Vigneault. "Thank God for this rivalry. Too see the Leafs fans, and our fans, everyone gets up for it."
The Maple Leafs won the last game between the rivals, a 3-2 overtime decision in the Air Canada Centre opener.
"I wouldn't say this is sweet revenge," Hackett said. "I wasn't focusing on anything but just trying to do what I could to keep the puck out of the net."
Benoit Brunet, who missed the last four games with a back injury, also scored for the Canadiens.
Vincent Damphousse added two assists, for his first two-point game since Nov. 17, when he had three points against Carolina.
"I felt really good tonight," the Montreal captain said. "I played a lot and against (Mats) Sundin. I just had tremendous energy."
Lonny Bohonos scored for the Maple Leafs, who have lost three of their last five games.
Hackett stopped a shot by Bryan Berard seconds later, after the defenseman swooped in front off the wing.
Curtis Joseph made 29 saves for the Maple Leafs, many of them outstanding to keep the game close.
"In the first half of the game we left Cujo all alone," said Maple Leafs captain Sundin. "In the second half of the game I thought we were the better team."
Zholtok, who was signed to a new two-year contract Friday, scored the winner on a power play. His shot from the right circle deflected off Chris McAllister's leg past Joseph.
Bohonos tied the game at 9:11 of the second when he took a pass from Sundin and slid the puck into an open net.
Brunet opened the scoring early in the period on another power play. He picked up the rebound from a shot by Scott Lachance and backhanded it off Joseph's glove and into the net.
"We had something to go for tonight, but Montreal played well," said Toronto coach Pat Quinn. "We responded too late."
Thursday March 11, 1999 Toronto at Ny Islanders
Curtis Joseph stopped 41 shots as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New York Islanders 2-1 Thursday night.
Sergei Berezin and Derek King scored for the Maple Leafs, who moved within five points of Northeast Division-leading Ottawa.
Bryan Smolinski scored for the Islanders, who are winless in six games (0-4-2). Tommy Salo stopped 20 shots in goal.
The 42 shots for the Islanders was their highest total since Jan. 7, 1997 when they fired 50 shots in a 5-3 home loss to Pittsburgh.
The Islanders fired 16 shots at Joseph in the first period, but couldn't get any by him. He made super stops on a breakaway by Claude Lapointe and made a pad save on Trevor Linden's point-blank shot. Salo only faced six shots, and made a brilliant stop on a point-blank try by King.
Berezin opened the scoring with his team-leading 27th goal at 15:26 of the second period, scoring on a rebound shot.
King gave Toronto a 2-0 lead 2:08 into the third period when his slap shot from the top of the left circle deflected off Kenny Jonsson's stick past Salo.
Smolinski responded 2:24 later when his blast from the right circle hit Joseph's left arm and trickled in.
Tuesday March 9, 1999 Tampa Bay at Toronto
It was Sergei Berezin's kind of game, but it certainly wasn't Pat Quinn's. Berezin scored twice in his 200th NHL game to set a career high in goals with 26 as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-1.
"I'm pretty happy about (his milestone), especially when the team wins," said Berezin, the leading goal-scorer on the NHL's highest-scoring team. "It was a wide-open game. It was fun to play."
Maple Leafs coach Quinn, however, was not impressed after watching the teams combine for 81 shots.
"We depended on our goalie tonight," said Quinn, whose Maple Leafs outshot the league's worst defensive team 41-40.
"We have to be better at playing the defensive side of the game because there will be times when we don't get the offense. If we don't score, does that mean we're just not going to win?"
Curtis Joseph, who was given a 6-0 lead, faced the most shots he's seen on home ice this season. His 39 saves included stops on four breakaways -- two on Stephane Richer.
Mats Sundin had a goal and two assists, Tie Domi had a goal and an assist, while Mike Johnson and Lonny Bohonos also scored for the Maple Leafs.
Robert Petrovicky scored for the Lightning.
"We got up by too many goals," said Joseph, who has faced 40 shots only once before this season (at Vancouver on Oct. 17). "They (Tampa Bay) started cheating and they did it effectively."
Tampa Bay, routed 9-3 by the Ottawa Senators on Monday night, is 4-4-0 in its last eight games.
Bill Ranford started against the Maple Leafs, but lasted one period after giving up four goals on 18 shots.
Corey Schwab, who let in Ottawa's first seven goals, fared better, stopping 21 shots.
The Lightning have, by far, the NHL's worst goals-against (236), goals-against average (3.69) and save percentage (.886).
"We made some mistakes in certain areas," said Lightning coach-general manager Jacques Demers. "(But) after two periods, believe it or not, we outchanced them. ... but Curtis Joseph is one of the five best goalies in hockey."
Sundin burned Tampa Bay with three goals and seven points in four games as the Maple Leafs swept the season series.
"Any time you play a team that just lost 9-3, you want to come out and have a good start," said Sundin, who set up the Maple Leafs' first two goals.
The Maple Leafs also had a little luck going for them. Both Sundin's goal and Berezin's second were tipped in by Lightning defenders.
Berezin led all players with nine shots, including several off blistering off-wing rushes.
Monday March 8, 1999 Toronto at Ny Rangers
Petr Nedved's second goal of the game _ on a power play with 17.3 seconds remaining in overtime _ gave the surging New York Rangers a crucial 3-2 victory Monday night over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The win vaulted the Rangers into a tie for the final playoff spot in the NHL's Eastern Conference. The Rangers are now unbeaten (5-0-1) in six games since Wayne Gretzky was sidelined with a neck injury.
Nedved's third-period goal had evened a game Toronto led 2-0 in the first period. The decisive goal, with Lonny Bohonos serving a boarding penalty that left Toronto coach Pat Quinn arguing after the game with referee Paul Devorksi, was Nedved's 17th.
It came off a slick pass from Brian Leetch. Nedved unleashed a shot from the slot that deflected off Toronto defenseman Dimitri Yushkevich and slowly edged over the goal line.
Nedved tied the game at 5:55 of the third period. Leetch took a slap shot from the point that bounced off of Nedved in front of the net and trickled under goalie Glenn Healy.
The Maple Leafs scored twice within 44 seconds of the first period.
Toronto took a 1-0 lead at 12:29 when Derek King intercepted a clearing attempt by Leetch at the blue line and passed to Mike Johnson, who was streaking in on Rangers goalie Mike Richter. Richter stopped the first shot, but Johnson converted the rebound for his 19th goal.
Johnson returned the favor at 13:13, feeding King for his 20th goal.
Kevin Stevens made it 2-1 with his 17th goal at 14:41. With the Rangers on the power play, Stevens took a cross-ice pass from Leetch in the slot and rifled it by Healy.
The Rangers are now tied with idle Boston for eighth place, but the Bruins have a game in hand.
Saturday March 6, 1999 Toronto at Ottawa
Ottawa Senators goaltender Ron Tugnutt has lost only two games since Dec. 26. He was outstanding again on Saturday night.
Tugnutt stopped 25 shots, including a penalty shot in the first period, as the Senators beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 in a meeting between the one-two teams in the Northeast Division.
Tugnutt improved his NHL-leading goals-against average to 1.64. One of his most impressive stops came on a penalty shot by Steve Sullivan at 7:09 of the first period with Ottawa leading 1-0.
"I didn't want to be surprised, I just tried to wait him out," Tugnutt said.
Tugnutt came out to challenge Sullivan and stopped Sullivan's forehand attempt with his left pad protecting the post.
"You're talking about probably the fastest guy on their team coming down," said Tugnutt, 11-2-4 since Dec. 26. "He had his hands up in the air after the shot. If he could have gone upstairs, he probably would have beaten me."
Alexei Yashin, Marian Hossa and Vaclav Prospal scored for the Senators.
Derek King scored for the Maple Leafs, the NHL's first team to score 200 goals this season. Goaltender Curtis Joseph lost for the first time in his career to Ottawa (10-1).
"That's a hot team, I'll tell you," Joseph said. "They play a very patient game and have a lot of speed. They're mobile and consistent. We had a few chances but Ron shut the door."
The Eastern Conference-leading Senators opened a five-point lead on the Maple Leafs in the Northeast Division with the victory, Ottawa's first of the season against Toronto. The Maple Leafs won two earlier one-goal decisions against the Senators, one in overtime.
"It was a big game," said Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn. "For a team that doesn't forecheck, they scored two forecheck goals.
"We had three two-on-ones in a short period and I don't think we got a shot away on any of them. Apparently Tugnutt has been playing that way all year."
Ottawa's club-record sixth consecutive home win also extended team records for wins in a season (36) and games above .500 (18).
Yashin and King traded first-period, power-play goals. The Ottawa captain put Sami Salo's rebound past Joseph 1:11 into the game for his 33rd of the season and 11th goal in 12 games.
King tied the game on a broken play at 11:35, with 22 seconds left in an interference penalty to Senators defenseman John Gruden.
Gruden was called up from the Detroit Vipers of the IHL to replace Wade Redden, who injured a shoulder in Ottawa's 5-0 win Thursday in Philadelphia.
Sullivan was awarded the first penalty shot of the season at the Corel Centre when Gruden hauled him down on a breakaway.
Hossa scored the winner 39 seconds into the second period and Prospal added an insurance goal at 3:41, deflecting Igor Kravchuk's point shot for his second goal in 40 games.
"It was an entertaining game with a lot of emotion," said the Maple Leafs' Mats Sundin, who was held to one shot. "They were the better team tonight."
Thursday March 4, 1999 Toronto at St. Louis
The Toronto Maple Leafs broke a 43-year-old franchise record for futility, yet won in a rout. The Maple Leafs leaned heavily on goalie Curtis Joseph in a 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues Thursday, getting off only nine shots but scoring on three of their first five.
"I don't think I've ever been involved with less than 10 shots in a game," Blues coach Joel Quenneville said.
"Unfortunately, a lot of them were real quality shots," Blues winger Scott Young said.
The Maple Leafs' previous low was 11 shots in 1956. Coach Pat Quinn thought the scorer missed a number of Toronto shots that might have kept that record in the books, but wasn't complaining much under the circumstances.
"I'm not sure the guy with the button was not as accurate as needs be," Quinn said. "I doubt the count, but it doesn't matter. We got four."
It also was a record for shots allowed by the Blues, who gave up 10 shots to the New York Rangers on Jan. 2. St. Louis lost that game, too, 1-0. The Blues have been shut out eight times, matching the team record for futility set in 1973-74 and 1977-78.
The Maple Leafs forced an early debut for new Blues goalie Jim Carey, chasing rookie Brent Johnson from the net with three goals on their first five shots.
Joseph made 28 saves to beat his old team for the eighth time in 11 meetings, three of them shutouts. Steve Thomas had two assists for the Maple Leafs, who had 26 shots in a 5-2 loss to New Jersey on Wednesday.
Carey, the 1996 Vezina Trophy winner who signed with the Blues on Monday after he was released by Boston, made his first NHL appearance of the season at 5:58 of the second period. Johnson, 21, won his first three career starts with a 1.20 goals-against average and Quenneville wanted to ride that hot hand, but two of the goals he allowed to Toronto were soft.
"I couldn't save a beach ball tonight," Johnson said. "I was no good. I feel bad for putting Jimmy in a position like that, letting him walk right into that."
The Maple Leafs scored on their first shot as Steve Sullivan converted a breakaway for his 13th goal at 11:03 of the first period. Mats Sundin made it two goals in four shots when Johnson played the pass and let a shot get past him at 2:13 of the second. Johnson was done after Lonny Bohonos beat him between the pads on a harmless-looking shot at 5:58 of the second.
Carey faced only two shots the rest of the period, but overplayed the puck and vacated the net on a 2-on-1 break when Garry Valk slid in a pass from Igor Korolev at 18:29 of the second.
Carey said it's tough enough coming off the bench, not to mention the extremely low shot volume. He faced only four shots in almost 34 minutes.
"There would be a 2-on-1, and then you wouldn't see any action for five minutes," Carey said. "When I was in there, most of the play was on their end."
Joseph thrives on playing against the Blues, who traded him to Edmonton after the 1995 playoffs. He also played Wednesday night and ideally would have gotten a night off.
"In hindsight, I'm glad I played tonight," Joseph said. "I don't feel like I'm at another level before the game, but it seems to work out that way."
The Blues fell to .500 at home at 13-13-4. They've won a team-record six in a row on the road, but were 2-4-1 on a recently completed homestand.
Wednesday March 3, 1999 New Jersey at Toronto
It was a lost night all around for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Not only did the Maple Leafs suffer a 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, they also lost their best two-way center and top defenseman to injury.
Toronto lost second-year center Alyn McCauley with a head injury and defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev with a foot contusion.
McCauley was taken heavily into the end boards by New Jersey defenseman Sheldon Souray seven minutes into the third period.
It took 10 minutes to stabilize McCauley and secure him to a stretcher before he was taken to a hospital. It was diagnosed as a head injury and McCauley had full feeling in his extremities.
"He was unconscious for quite a while," said Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn. "We won't know anything until the evaluation (at Toronto Western Hospital) is complete."
Toronto left wing Derek King said his linemate was awake when he was carried off the ice.
"I grabbed his hand and said, `Take it easy,"' King said. "He just sort of shook his head."
Souray was emotionally shaken after the game and repeated that it was accidental.
"I know Alyn from when he was with us," Souray said. "You don't want to see that happen. It was a fluky thing. I hope he's all right."
Karpovtsev, meanwhile, took a slap shot off the inside of his left ankle early in the second period and was helped off the ice. The foot contusion will sideline Karpovtsev on a day-to-day basis.
The Maple Leafs blew a two-goal lead to lose two points to their Eastern Conference rival.
Jason Arnott's two third-period goals broke the 2-2 tie after New Jersey overcame a 2-0 deficit.
The Maple Leafs appeared to be in good shape after Sergei Berezin staked Toronto to a 2-0 second-period lead.
But the Devils erupted for five straight goals, a rally started by Scott Niedermayer and Bob Carpenter, who scored to tie the game in the last four minutes of the second period.
Early in the third, Arnott flicked a wrist shot past a screened Curtis Joseph to put the Devils ahead 3-2. Arnott's 55-foot blast from inside the blue line eluded Joseph midway through the period.
"I just shot the puck and hit the net," Arnott said. "The difference is they went in. Everyone has been telling me to shoot more."
Patrik Elias, who also had two assists, scored an empty-net goal for the Devils, who are 3-0-1 in their last four.
The loss was Toronto's first at the Air Canada Centre (2-1-1).
"We started to play their (Devils') game," said Quinn. "We couldn't make a pass after a while. We didn't have the personnel to play how we play best."