GAME SUMMARIES
Updated: Thursday December 2, 1999 7:48PM EST
Monday November 29, 1999 Washington at Toronto
It took Adam Mair half a period to do what Todd Warriner struggled to do all season -- score a goal.
Mair, who was recalled earlier in the day from St. John's of the AHL and didn't arrive in Toronto until 2� hours before the game, scored his first regular-season NHL goal as the Maple Leafs defeated the Washington Capitals 3-1 Monday night.
"I think I was more exhausted before I could build up any nerves," said Mair, who scored at 11:36 in the first period. "It was a relief to get that early goal because it calmed things down and let me settle into the game."
Warriner, who had only three goals in 18 games, was traded to Tampa Bay on Monday for a third-round pick in 2000.
"Adam brings an ingredient that we clearly need. He's going to get a chance to show his wares," Toronto coach Pat Quinn said. "He's a young guy and we don't want him to spoil or have him sit around too much, so he needs to play to continue to develop his game."
Yanic Perreault and Steve Thomas also scored for Toronto. Defenseman Tomas Kaberle had two assists and Curtis Joseph made 20 saves to get his league-leading 12th victory.
Mair "played great. He got us going in the first period with a big goal. He works very hard," Perreault said. "(Washington) worked until the end of the game and CuJo made some great saves."
Jeff Halpern scored a short-handed goal for Washington, which lost for only the second time in its last eight games. Olaf Kolzig stopped 28 shots for the Capitals.
"We had a couple guys that didn't show up for us tonight and it cost us," said Washington coach Ron Wilson. "We need everybody on the same page and tonight they weren't."
Mair was on the same page as Alyn McCauley on the first goal of the game. McCauley slid a pass through Brendan Witt's legs on a two-on-one and Mair directed it home at 11:36 of the first period.
"He made a terrific pass through the legs and all I had to do was put my stick on it," said Mair, who played the previous night in Quebec City.
Mair scored a goal for Toronto in the playoffs last season, but this was his first regular-season goal in the NHL. He had 17 points in 24 games this year with St. John's before getting called up.
The Capitals tied it at 11:06 of the second period when Halpern scored on a backhand shot from the slot. But the Leafs quickly regained the lead two minutes later when Perreault scored on a rebound of Chris McAllister's shot for his eighth goal of the season.
Saturday November 27, 1999 Edmonton at Toronto
Toronto Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn had reason to smile Saturday -- two of his top players finally appeared to be back on track.
Steve Thomas ended a 13-game goal drought with his second goal of the season, and Mats Sundin recorded his 400th point with Toronto as the Maple Leafs defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Saturday.
Jonas Hoglund also had a goal and two assists and Sergei Berezin had a goal.
"In the past three games they've all been pretty good," Quinn said. "Hoglund was probably the only consistent guy before that. Mats and Steve weren't particularly sharp in any area lately."
Thomas also had two assists.
"I wasn't getting my chances for a while so I had to re-evaluate my game," he said. "I decided I needed to go to the net more and be grittier and that would open me up more as well as my linemates."
Sundin's second goal, into an empty net, made him the 18th player in Maple Leaf history to record 400 points with the team.
"I didn't know (until it happened) so I got the puck after the game and I'm going to make sure I frame that," said Sundin, who has 11 goals on the season. "I didn't think when I came into this league that I would be able to do something like that. I'm really proud of it."
Berezin scored his 10th goal of the season as the Leafs moved ahead of the idle Philadelphia Flyers to take first place in the Eastern Conference.
Yanic Perreault added a pair of assists, giving him a team-high 21 points.
Bill Guerin, who also had an assist, and Josef Beranek scored for the Oilers. Todd Marchant also had a pair of assists.
The Leafs were outshot 34-22, but received strong goaltending from Curtis Joseph, who improved to 11-6-3.
The Leafs have beaten the Oilers the last four times.
"We did some good things, but there's still 60 games left for us," said Edmonton coach Kevin Lowe.
The Maple Leafs were outshot 34-22, but got strong goaltending from Curtis Joseph.
Sundin's first goal gave Toronto a 3-2 lead with 2:31 remaining in the second period. Sundin jammed in a rebound off Mike Johnson's shot.
Thomas opened the scoring 7:28 into the game when his intended pass for Sundin bounced off Edmonton's Ryan Smyth and into the net. Sundin was originally credited with the goal, but it was later determined he didn't touch the puck.
Friday November 26, 1999 Toronto at Philadelphia
As far as Philadelphia Flyers captain Eric Lindros is concerned, the game was never in doubt.
Mark Recchi's goal with 51.5 seconds left in overtime gave the Philadelphia Flyers a 3-2 win Friday over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The goal salvaged a game for the Flyers in which the team lost a two-goal lead late in the third period.
"Even though they came back, we had real good confidence about winning," Lindros explained after Recchi beat Toronto goaltender Glenn Healy wide to the glove side with a slapshot from the left circle after taking a pass from Eric Desjardins from behind the net.
"When they do that cycle with Lindros and (John) LeClair and then add Recchi into the mix, it's a nightmare," explained Healy who lost for the first time in three starts this season.
Desjardins, who had a goal and two assists, and, who added a goal and assist, helped the Flyers reman unbeaten at home in their last seven games (6-0-1).
"When you put out all your offensive guys like that, there's a good chance that a goal is going to be scored somewhere," said Philadelphia coach Roger Neilson. "They're tough because Eric and John are so big and Mark is so quick. It's hard for a team to cover them."
Toronto's Mats Sundin and Sergei Berezin scored goals within a span of 2:12 late in the third period to send the game into overtime.
Sundin scored his ninth goal of the season on the power play with 2:24 left, converting a slapshot from the point on a give-and-go with Steve Thomas.
Then with 11.1 seconds left in regulation, Berezin poked in a rebound for his ninth goal after Philadelphia goaltender Brian Boucher kicked out an initial shot by Dimitri Yushkevich.
"We had our shots to put them away, but it just didn't fall our way" said Sundin. "We've been having problems scoring lately. We figured it would be a tight game. We came back but couldn't finish them off."
Boucher, a rookie who has won four straight starts, made 20 saves as both teams went with backup goaltenders.
"We didn't get the job done in the last two minutes, but we got a real big goal by Recchi," said Lindros, who has scored five goals in his last three games. "Toronto is one of the top teams in the league. It feels nice to beat a team like that."
Healy stopped 18 shots as the Maple Leafs dropped their second consecutive game. Toronto has won only twice in its last 10 games (2-6-2).
Lindros, who has scored five goals in his last three games, put the Flyers ahead 1-0 at 5:23 of the first period. LeClair, who had two assists, dug the puck out from behind the net and Lindros swatted it past Healy's stick side.
Desjardins, who has eight points in his last three games, made it 2-0 on a power-play goal with a two-man advantage at 15:57 of the second. He scored on a slap shot from top of the point.
Philadelphia went into the game with the best power-play percentage in the NHL (25.3 percent) and leads the league with 25 power-play goals.
Boucher, who has stopped 73 of 80 shots during his four-game unbeaten string, made a number of difficult saves in the tight-checking, defensive struggle.
Philadelphia is 13-3-2 since opening the season by going winless in its first six (0-5-1), the poorest start in the franchise's history.
It was the first meeting between the two teams since May 2, when Toronto won 1-0 and eliminated the Flyers in Game 6 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Lindros missed that series with a collapsed lung.