Leafs finish up as road kill

VANCOUVER-Vesa Toskala had allowed four goals on nine shots and Roberto Luongo was guarding the opposite net.

Given that scenario, there's wasn't much hope that the Maple Leafs could muster one of their heralded come-from-behind wins last night against the Canucks.

And with ex-Leaf Kyle Wellwood exacting a measure of revenge by scoring the opening goal - leading an onslaught that eventually chased Toskala - the Canucks sailed to a 4-2 win.

"I actually felt really good," said Toskala. "That might be what sucks the most, that I wasn't able to help the team."

The Leafs wrapped up their Western Canada tour with a 1-2 record and have little time to gather themselves before they play tomorrow night at home against the Northeast Division-leading Boston Bruins, winners of five of their last six.

If there was a turning point last night, it came early.

The Leafs had been dominating from the opening faceoff and after 3 1/2 minutes had a 5-0 advantage in shots on goal.

The Canucks then took two penalties within three seconds of each other - goalie interference and interference on the ensuing faceoff - giving the Leafs a 5-on-3 advantage for the 13th time this season.

And for the 13th time, the Leafs failed to score.

It became 0-for-14 after a much shorter 5-on-3 situation in the second period.

"I'm going to change up some of the people who play on the 5-on-3," said Leafs coach Ron Wilson.

"Some of the shots we take from the point make no sense to me at all.

"We've got to try to work the puck low. We're taking needless shots that get blocked."

Shortly after the two Canucks got out of the box, Wellwood scored on Vancouver's first shot on Toskala, at 7:13.

"When the shots are 11-0 and their first shot goes in the net, it's kind of depressing," said Wilson. "That was huge."

Wilson didn't blame Toskala for the loss - noting most of the goals would have been difficult saves for any netminder - but suggested he might have contributed a bit more.

"You can't argue any of the goals were stoppable, but you could use a save, I guess," said Wilson. "But it's not Vesa's fault.

"We got way too far behind the eight-ball playing a defensive team."

Wellwood - now approaching folk-hero status with Canuck fans - got a huge ovation from the sellout crowd at GM Place when he redirected Pavol Demitra's pass, one of three assists for Demitra.

"Coming into the game, I was hoping to have a good start. To put our team on the board first was nice," said Wellwood.

"If I had to pick a game to score, it would have been this one."

By 8:31 of the second period, the Canucks had a 4-0 lead on goals by Wellwood, Ryan Kesler, Willie Mitchell and Daniel Sedin on nine shots and Toskala was done for the evening.

"They had good chances and they put them in," said Toskala.

"I don't really worry about good goals, you just put them behind you and get focused for the next (shot). Sometimes they hit you and sometimes they don't."

Coming into the game, Toskala's 3.08 goals-against average and .878 save percentage were among the worst in the league.

Luongo, meanwhile, was too much.

His franchise-record shutout streak of 242:36 had ended on Thursday night and he looked intent on going after his sixth shutout of the season.

Ian White wouldn't let it happen, scoring from close range at 14:53 of the third.

Matt Stajan added a power-play goal at 17:30, extending his points streak to six games. He now has points in 11 of his last 12 games.