SCORES
Month of March
Monday March 30, 1998 L.A. at Toronto
Score: L.A. 3 Toronto 2
TORONTO (AP) -- Even though he played junior and minor hockey in Ontario,
Jamie Storr had never played in Maple Leaf Gardens until Monday night.
Given the chance, he made the most of it.
The 22-year-old backup
goaltender stopped 38 of 40 shots
in front of a crowd of 15,726,
which included his father and
brother, in the Los Angeles Kings'
3-2 win over the Toronto Maple
Leafs.
"It was special because it's the first
time my dad has seen me play live
(in the NHL)," Storr said.
"Unfortunately my mom never got
to see me play live. It was
something special.'
Storr's mother, Keiko, died of an aneurysm, three years ago.
Storr, drafted seventh overall by the Kings in 1994, was told a week ago that he
would play in the game. He admitted he was excited thinking about it, but also
nervous.
"A little bit at the start, just because my friends and family were there," he said.
"It's a little different when you're 3,000 miles away and they only see the
highlights on TV. I was excited and it worked out well tonight."
Storr had faced a career-high 40 shots in a 3-3 tie with Dallas on April 5, 1997,
but the steamy confines of Maple Leaf Gardens took more out of him than his
previous best effort.
"It was so hot in that building," he said. "I think if I would have faced 20 (shots) I
think it would have felt like 40."
Kings coach Larry Robinson wanted to work Storr into the rotation to give
starter Stephane Fiset a rest. He wasn't concerned about Storr suffering
home-town jitters.
"I don't know if he has any nerves," said Robinson. "If anything, he probably
plays better under pressure. Give him a lead with five or two minutes to go, and
you've got a battle on your hands. He's pretty steady in there."
Los Angeles was coming off a loss in Calgary on Saturday, and Robinson said
he skated his club hard before boarding the plane to Toronto.
"I wanted to get a message across that you don't win just by putting your sticks
on the ice," said Robinson. "It comes through hard work. At least the guys came
tonight and gave a real strong effort."
The loss ended the Leafs' modest two-game winning streak and further dimmed
their playoff hopes.
Toronto trails Edmonton by seven points for the eighth and final playoff spot in
the Western Conference after the Oilers beat Calgary 3-1 Monday night.
"Storr played very well for them," said Leafs coach Larry Murphy. "We've had
the most chances we've had in probably three months tonight. We just couldn't
get by him at the right time."
The big blow was Russ Courtnall's short-handed goal at 18:21 of the third
period.
Courtnall's goal came after Leafs defenseman Sylvain Cote failed to keep the
puck in the Los Angeles zone. The speedy Courtnall picked up the puck, burst
into the clear and beat Toronto goalie Felix Potvin high to the glove side. That
gave the Kings a 3-1 lead.
"We did a lot of good things tonight and I just get very disappointed when you're
four minutes away from one point and maybe two and give up a goal that I
wasn't very happy with," said Murphy.
Wendel Clark scored for the Leafs with 15 seconds left to make it 3-2. Cote
had the other Toronto goal.
Garry Galley put the Kings up 2-1 with 3:19 to go in the third period with a
power-play goal. Glen Murray also scored for Los Angeles.
Cote had tied the game 1-1 with a slapshot from 35 feet out that beat Storr on
the power play at 3:03 of the second period. Cote has two goals in three games
since being traded from Washington at the NHL trading deadline. He had just
one goal in 59 games with the Capitals this season.
Murray outskated Toronto defenseman Dimitri Yushkevich to score
short-handed on the Kings' first shot of the game at 1:59.
Potvin finished with 21 saves.
Saturday March 28, 1998 N.Y. Islanders at Toronto
Score: Toronto 4 N.Y. Islanders 3 O.T.
TORONTO (AP) -- Defenseman Sylvain Cote wasn't happy at first to leave the
Washington Capitals. But since his trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs, he is
starting to adjust to his new surroundings.
Cote, a long-time Washington Capital until Tuesday's trading deadline, scored
with four seconds left in overtime to give the Maple Leafs a 4-3 victory Saturday
night over the New York Islanders.
Cote, playing his second game as a Maple Leaf, took a pass from Mathieu
Schneider and let a shot go from the point. Islanders forward Claude LaPointe
went down to block the puck, but deflected over Tommy Salo's shoulder.
"I knew there was not much time left," Cote said of his big goal. "I kind of let
(Schneider) know I was open, I was available. He sent it my way and it
deflected in front of the net."
As for his trade to Toronto, Cote said:
"If I was not traded to Toronto, I would not be so happy now, that's the way I
look at it."
Derek King tied the game for Toronto at 19:09 of the third.
Mariusz Czerkawski gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead at 15:32 of the third with his
second goal of the game and seventh of the season.
Joe Sacco scored the other goal for New York, on the Islanders' first shot of the
game, at 4:08 of the first period. Czerkawski made it 2-0 just 1:57 later on New
York's next shot.
Mats Sundin and Mathieu Schneider also scored for Toronto.
"Derek King might have been our best player tonight," Maple Leafs coach Mike
Murphy said. "The third goal really rallied us. We were able to rebound and
come back, which we haven't been able to do a lot this season.
"I don't think our team's ever been a team that quit. Strange things happen down
the stretch, I keep telling them that."
Toronto closed within five points of idle Edmonton for the eighth and final playoff
berth in the Western Conference. Toronto has 10 games remaining, Edmonton
nine.
The Islanders remained 10 points behind Ottawa for the final playoff berth in the
Eastern Conference.
Toronto outshot New York 32-28.
The teams matched shots in overtime, with five apiece. Toronto goalie Felix
Potvin stopped a slap shot by Zigmund Palffy early in overtime and later slid
across the crease to deny Bryan Smolinski.
Toronto outshot New York 13-4 in the second period. The Islanders had only
one shot in the first 16 minutes and allowed the shorthanded goal by Sundin at
11:50. The Maple Leafs' captain turned defenseman Bryan Berard inside out on
a 1-on-1 and slid a low shot past his Swedish countryman Salo.
The Islanders, other than their quick goals, generated little offense until well into
the third period.
"I think we just took it for granted. We played too soft," said Berard. "It's the
defensive zone mistakes we're making that are costing us. It's too late in the
season to be making those."
Left wing Wendel Clark played his first game for Toronto since Jan. 7. He
missed 29 games with a groin injury.