Leafs hang on to beat Hurricanes, former coach

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Carolina Hurricanes couldn't quite provide Paul Maurice the victory he was craving Thursday night, but the veteran coach only has to wait three more days to get another crack at his former team.

Maurice watched unhappily from the Carolina bench as the Toronto Maple Leafs ended a four-game losing streak - and handed the Hurricanes their fourth consecutive defeat - with a nerve-wracking 6-4 triumph at the RBC Center.

Toronto and Carolina hook up again at the Air Canada Centre on Monday night.

A one-timer from inside the right point by Tomas Kaberle allowed the Leafs to escape with the victory. Kaberle whacked Pavel Kubina's cross-feed past goalie Cam Ward on the power play with 5:25 left in regulation time. It was the 200th assist of Kubina's NHL career.

The game appeared to be over as the Leafs barely broke a sweat in fashioning a 4-0 lead by the 15:07 mark of the second period.

Then the Hurricanes woke up.

Matt Cullen scored with 1:29 left in the period, giving Carolina its first breath of life. Momentum carried over into the final frame, when Tuomo Ruutu, Eric Staal and Scott Walker brought the Hurricanes back to even with goals in the first 8:40 of play.

Maurice sparked quite a buzz when he told a Raleigh all-sports radio station on Wednesday that he hopes the Leafs "lose every game they play for the next 10 years." He suggested Thursday the quote wasn't as biting as it sounded, and he was surely expecting a more robust effort from his players.

Instead, the Hurricanes were sluggish for almost 40 minutes - indifferent to the burning desire of their coach, who was hoping to exact a small measure of revenge from the team that fired him last spring. Lazy defensive play led directly to three of the first four Toronto goals as the visitors built an apparently safe lead with their second-period tallies.

Jason Blake paced the attack with two goals and an assist. He now has 12 markers on the season - only three shy of his disappointing total in 2007-08. It was the Leafs' first road win since Dec. 22 in Atlanta, and Toronto improved to 3-8 in its past 11 games.

Maurice and Leafs coach Ron Wilson last opposed one another a year ago this week in San Jose. The Leafs finished a disastrous trek through California by losing to the Sharks, and general manager John Ferguson was fired 10 days later. Cliff Fletcher was summoned to replace him and he fired Maurice in April.

Wilson was dumped in San Jose after a second-round playoff exit, and then was quickly scooped up by the Leafs.

"I haven't talked to Paul since the (hiring) process was underway," Wilson said Thursday. "I called him when he was let go, and he called me after I was fired. He's an excellent coach and I'm sure he wants to beat us badly."

Apparently, more so than his players. Based on recent results, this was hardly a clash of freight trains. It was more like a couple of cotton balls brushing past one another. Toronto and Carolina had combined to lose their previous seven matches and 13 of their past 15.

The Leafs opened the scoring for only the 14th time in 44 games. Walker was serving a roughing penalty for the Hurricanes when defenceman Ian White cleanly beat Ward with a low slapshot from inside the left point. It was White's first goal in 14 games, dating back to Dec. 12, when he scored the winner in a 2-1 Toronto victory in Buffalo.

The Hurricanes were terrible in the middle frame, allowing the Maple Leafs a free and easy path to their goal. Blake effortlessly danced past defenceman Joni Pitkanen behind the net and scored on a forehand wraparound as Ward was slow moving to his left.

A turnover by Joe Corvo and a sloppy clearing attempt by Tim Gleason led to a bang-bang play that ended with Niklas Hagman chipping a direct giveaway past Ward for a 3-0 Toronto lead. It broke a seven-game scoreless drought for Hagman.

Blake's second goal was partly the result of good fortune, as linemate Dominic Moore fanned on a shot and the puck went directly to him for an easy re-direction.

Cullen finally brought the crowd out of its stupor when he cleanly beat Vesa Toskala with a quick shot from 25 feet to give the Hurricanes some life heading into the dressing room.