Toronto Maple Leafs edge past Atlanta Thrashers 5-4
Tim Brent scored the winning goal in the final stanza to help the Toronto Maple Leafs overcome the Atlanta Thrashers 5-4 at Air Canada Centre on Monday night.
Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski each netted a goal and had an assist for Toronto, who have won three of their previous four contests. Dion Phaneuf also posted a goal for the winners while Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned away 30 shots. Clarke MacArthur
scored another goal in the win.
Dustin Byfuglien notched a power-play goal to stop a 13-game pointless streak for the slumping Atlanta, who have not won since the all-star break (0-4).
Thrashers Coach Craig Ramsay said after the game, "We are getting to the point where we have to win, and I think the vast majority of our players gave all they had to win. But the small errors keep cropping up."
Andrew Ladd and Nik Antropov each recorded a goal, while Ondrej Pavelec was dented for five goals on 32 shots in the defeat. Evander Kane also added a goal in the losing effort. Toronto was shorthanded for most of the opening session with six penalties,
including two 5-on-3 advantages.
The Thrashers took advantage twice while on the power-play to take a 2-0 lead during the first 20 minutes of the game. The first goal came in the third minute when Bryan Little gave a centring pass to Kane, who was wide open in the slot. Kane then fired
a shot into the back of the net to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead.
Byfuglien then gave the Thrashers a two-goal lead with nearly four minutes to play in the first period. He ripped a slap shot from the left point which sailed over the goalie's shoulder.
The Maple Leafs however, came back just one and half minutes into the middle frame to make it a 2-1 game on a goal set up by a turnover. Grabovski gathered the puck and sent it to the slot where Phaneuf banged a shot past Pavelec.
Toronto then capitalised on penalties to tie the game at 2-2 just over four minutes in the second stanza. As Chris Thorburn's delay of game penalty expired, Grabovski took MacArthur’s centring pass at the top of the crease and chipped the puck home. Thirty-nine
seconds later, the Thrashers responded to restore their lead at 3-2, as Antropov hammered a wrist shot into the net from close range.
The Maple Leafs tied the game at 3-3 with four and a half minutes to play in the second period, as MacArthur set up his own goal by notching the puck behind the net. He then skated on a give-and-go with Tomas Kaberle at the point and finished the return
pass by blasting a shot into the net from the left side.
Byfuglien made a costly turnover in his own zone in the fifth minute of the final frame. Kulemin took advantage and attacked the defenseman's pass at the door step, controlled it for a split second and slipped it under Pavelec to give Toronto a 4-3 lead.
Brent then registered the much needed insurance goal for a 5-3 advantage just before the midway mark of the period to finish out a three-goal streak. The goal was set up by Joey Crabb, who swept a pass across the slot to Brent, who tipped it in from the
slot.
The visitors responded to make it a 5-4 contest with nine minutes to play in the third period, when Ladd buried a loose puck past Giguere. However, they failed to find an equaliser, as Toronto held on for the win.
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