Marcel Cousineau made 22 saves for his first NHL win and Wendel Clark, Darby Hendrickson and Mats Sundin all scored first-period goals as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2.
The win was just Toronto's second in its last eight games. Vancouver, which saw its three game winning streak come to end, fell to 5-5 away from home and will be on the road for the next five games.
Cousineau, who became the backup goaltender when Toronto waived Don Beaupre on November 19th, made five saves in the first, nine in the second and eight in the third. The only time the rookie was tested came with 2:40 left in the first period when he made a blocker save on Jyrki Lumme's shot from the right circle.
Clark opened the scoring with a power-play goal 7:41 into the game when he tapped in Larry Murphy's point blast. Hendrickson increased Toronto's lead to 2-0 by scoring a nearly identical goal just over two minutes later.
After Trevor Linden halved the deficit with his fifth goal at 12:50, Sundin scored his team-high 14th goal just 38 seconds later. Sundin took a pass off the end boards from Sergei Berezin, skated around the right post and wristed a shot over Canucks goaltender Corey Hirsch.
Sundin has a seven-game point scoring streak and has posted four goals and seven assists in that span. Clark has scored seven goals in his last four home games.
Hirsch made 22 saves and fell to 6-4. David Roberts added a goal for Vancouver in the final minute.
Murphy appeared in his 1,257th game, passing Montreal Canadiens legend Henri Richard for 20th place all-time.
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Mats Sundin
2. Donald Brashear
3. Darby Hendrickson
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