Hagman's shootout tally lifts Leafs over Devils - Leafs 6, Devils 5

Newark, NJ (Sports Network) - Niklas Hagman got the game-winner in the shootout, as Toronto clipped New Jersey, 6-5, at the Prudential Center.

On the fourth chance for the Leafs, Hagman slid a backhander through Martin Brodeur's pads while facing center ice. Jamie Langenbrunner had the next opportunity to keep the game going for New Jersey but shot right into the blocker of Vesa Toskala.

Matt Stajan had two goals and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who have won three of four. Alex Steen, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Jamal Mayers also lit the lamp and Toskala stopped 26 shots in regulation for the win.

David Clarkson, Dainius Zubrus, Colin White, Zach Parise and Langenbrunner scored once each for the Devils, who have dropped three in a row.

Brodeur took the loss despite a 43-save performance.

The Devils took a 1-0 lead 2:32 into the contest, as Mike Mottau's shot from the bottom of the right circle was tipped out of the air by Clarkson.

It was 2-0 at 7:04 as Zubrus got credit for slamming the puck through traffic in the crease and into the net.

Toronto's three-goal burst in a little more than three minutes gave the visitors a lead early in the second period.

Stajan controlled a dump-in from the right boards and slid a shot by Brodeur at 4:13 to bring Toronto within a goal. Another Leafs power-play tally knotted the game at 5:31, as Tomas Kaberle's right-point floater sailed through a screen, hit Stajan and bounced in.

The Leafs went up by one with another power-play goal at 7:31. John Mitchell shot from the outer edge of the right circle and the puck hit Steen in the slot and changed direction.

Langenbrunner netted the equalizer 1:43 later, and White blasted one cleanly past Toskala with 6:18 remaining for a 4-3 Devils edge.

Toronto notched a pair of goals in a 70 second span midway through the third by Mayers (even strength) and Ponikarovsky (power play) to go up 5-4, but Parise's tally 52 seconds later forged a tie.

Neither side had any good chances to win in overtime despite New Jersey's 6-0 shot advantage.

Lecavalier shoots down Leafs

In many ways, the Maple Leafs and the Lightning are the same: each has a new coach, a new management team and a first-round pick around which they can build their future.

But the Lightning have something the Leafs do not: a game-breaking superstar.

There was no stopping Vincent Lecavalier last night, the difference in a 3-2 Tampa win that ended the Leafs' modest two-game winning string.

"We don't have a Vinny Lecavalier," said Leafs coach Ron Wilson, stating the obvious. "We should have been aware of where he was. We talked at length about knowing who you're playing against and a few times we didn't. He slipped in behind and took advantage."

Lecavalier scored twice - with top draft pick Steve Stamkos getting his first NHL point in assisting on Lecavalier's game winner.

Both were beauties - one a breakaway, the other a patient play in front of Vesa Toskala that had the Leaf goalie guessing wrong both times.

"I just saw that he (Toskala) kind of moved with the puck," said Lecavalier of his breakaway goal. "When I made my move to the left, he really moved with it. I stopped, and went back, and I got it."

The Leafs had more chances, outshooting Tampa 39-25, but the Lightning, thanks to Lecavalier, made the most of theirs.

"We had plenty of opportunities; a guy like that buries them," Wilson said of Lecavalier. "He's one of the best players in the league. You give him three opportunities, he might score two. ... Some of our guys need five opportunities to score one."

Wilson didn't sound nearly as disappointed in the loss as one might expect, but he did single out Matt Stajan for questionable play, despite Stajan scoring his first goal of the year.

Stajan's goal tied the game 1-1 in the first period. He tapped in Nik Antropov's centring pass from the corner, a reward for his hard work in front of Tampa goalie Mike Smith.

"He went to the net that time," Wilson said of Stajan. "He spent the rest of the night standing behind the net instead of in front.

"You'd think he'd learn: `Geez, I went to the front of the net, and I scored. I'll go stand in front of the net and let Antropov and Pony (Alexei Ponikarovsky) control the area in behind the net and I'll get some garbage goals.'

"That's something we'll talk about."

Jussi Jokinen opened the scoring for Tampa. Mike Van Ryn had the Leafs' second goal.

Some billed this game as a battle between Stamkos - the first pick in last June's draft - and Luke Schenn, No. 5 overall.

Schenn got his usual minutes (22:56) in his first game since getting word the Leafs don't plan to send him back to junior. He has no points yet in nine games, and he's minus-4 on the season, victimized last night at even strength by Lecavalier. Stamkos had a huge cheering section at the sold-out Air Canada Centre.

The former Markham Waxer said before the game he had to get 50 tickets for the game for family and friends. Stamkos's ice time is gradually rising. He played 12:58 including 4:16 on the power play. He outhustled Alex Steen for the puck off a faceoff, helping set up Lecavalier's winner at 13:15 of the second.

"That was his first point tonight, his first of many in this league," Lecavalier said of Stamkos. "He's going to get his first goal and go from there."

The Leafs go from facing one of the best shooters in the league to one of the best puck stoppers, with a game tonight against Martin Brodeur and the Devils in New Jersey.

It's official: Schenn stays in T.O.

Luke Schenn's moment of hockey passage, his first sense of permanence in the NHL, arrived with little fanfare, just a brief meeting with Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson before yesterday's practice.

"He just came up to me and said: `We're going to keep you. You're not going to have to go back and ride the bus.' That's all he said," recounted Schenn.

There wasn't more to be said.

After all, it has been Schenn who has been delivering the emphatic message to Toronto management with his steady play each game and his maturity on and off the ice. Wilson's words merely affirmed what those in the team's front office have believed for a while now: The teenager has earned his spot.

Schenn, drafted fifth overall in June, will not be returned to his junior team at Kelowna.

"He has passed the test," Wilson told reporters.

"We played in Detroit, and he was one of our best players on the ice. We played Anaheim here and he was one of our best players on the ice. He has been our best defenceman defensively in almost every game.

"That's good enough for me."

Schenn, as calm off the ice as he appears on it, finally let a bit of gee-whiz wonderment slip out when asked about getting word he would remain with Toronto.

"I'm real excited and it's pretty cool to be part of the Toronto Maple Leafs, no question about that," the 18-year-old beamed.

Schenn turns 19 on Sunday and the Leafs have, historically, been tough on young defenceman.

The argument has been made, quite vociferously by some in the media, that the Leafs risk ruining another prospect by rushing Schenn. The argument says he should be given the opportunity to further learn and develop in junior before getting full-time exposure to the pressures of the NHL and the Toronto market.

Wilson took issue with that point.

"You've got a head coach with about 20 years experience in coaching," he said. "You've got Tim Hunter with 11 years of coaching experience. You've got Keith Acton with maybe 10 or 11 years of coaching experience, and Rob Zettler with six. Then you factor in all of us with our playing experience, you're talking over 100 years of experience. Why wouldn't you want those guys teaching a young player like Luke how to play in the league?"

The coach also sloughed off the argument that by playing a 10th game this season - a threshold that Schenn will reach tomorrow at New Jersey - it is poor long-term strategy because it puts the rookie one year closer to salary arbitration rights. Also, by using up the first year of his entry-level contract, he'll get to a higher salary quicker, a consideration in the salary cap world.

"You don't put people on your team because you're worried five, six, seven, eight years from now. That's backward thinking," Wilson said. "You've got to keep these people on your team if they can help your team and they're ready for it. He obviously is. I said if he was in the top four defencemen on our team, he would stay.

"He's easily in the top four."

Schenn, typically partnered with veteran Tomas Kaberle, has averaged 21 minutes, 24 seconds of ice time. That's third on the club behind Kaberle (25:47) and fellow blueliner Pavel Kubina (22:10). Schenn also has been a regular on the penalty kill and a little power play time.

Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher said watching Schenn's play, and Wilson's confidence in him, made keeping him the obvious move.

"He's going to be in a position to learn here, but the bottom line is he has demonstrated he can play here," said Fletcher.

Rookie Schenn shines in Leafs win over Senators - Leafs 3, Ottawa 2

TORONTO - Leave it up to an 18-year-old prairie boy to revive the Battle of Ontario.

The last time the Toronto Maple Leafs faced the Ottawa Senators in the playoffs was four years ago. Since then, rosters have changed and it seemed that the rivalry was finally starting to fade away.

Then Luke Schenn came along and wrote a new chapter in the book of hate.

Less than a minute into Saturday night's game, the rookie defenceman set the tone in Toronto's 3-2 win over Ottawa by dropping his gloves with Senators enforcer Chris Neil.

"I had to get the first fight over sooner or later," Schenn said of his first NHL bout. "I don't go looking for it all the time, but once in a while it just happens."

On Saturday, the fight happened because an Ottawa player had taken liberties with Schenn's teammate.

Neil, a fourth-line agitator who used to go toe-to-toe with Toronto's Tie Domi and Wade Belak, had caught Matt Stajan with what appeared to be a knee-on-knee hit. Without thinking, Schenn rushed to his teammate's aid by taking on the much-older and stronger opponent.

"I don't know if he kneed Stajan or not, but he took a little run at him. So I decided to jump in there," said Schenn, who was named the game's first star. "I realized that (Neil's) not afraid to fight once in a while."

Indeed, the six-foot-two, 216-pound Schenn took more punches than he gave against Neil.

After the game, the youngster's nose was still bleeding. But while Schenn may have lost his first NHL fight, his teammates and fans made him feel like a victor.

Stajan skated over and patted the youngster on the head. The Toronto crowd roared with applause. And his team responded with a hard-fought win.

"I think Luke would respond to anything that he feels is a cheap shot and gets right in there," said Leafs head coach Ron Wilson. "It was a mob scene when he got out of the penalty box . . . it was fun to see. I think the fans really appreciated him jumping in there."

The fight seemed to give life to the Leafs, who took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Dominic Moore.

It wasn't pretty, but it was the type of goal that Wilson has been trying to get his players to score since the start of this season.

Jason Blake drove the puck hard to the net and Mike Van Ryn and Moore followed up by whacking in the rebound at 14:14 into the first period. It was only the Leafs' sixth power-play goal this season.

"That's going to have to be our game. Forecheck strong and don't be fancy," said Moore, who has two goals this season. "Speed is our strength. We're going to have to play aggressively and work hard to get our chances. The ones that go in are because of hard work."

Toronto, which outshot Ottawa 21-9 in the first period and 12-4 in the second, outworked its opponent. And it paid off.

Mikhail Grabovski scored his first goal of the season at 2:15 in the middle frame to put Toronto up 2-0. Less than two minutes later, Ottawa's Shean Donovan redirected an Alexandre Picard point shot to pull within one.

Alexei Ponikarovsky put the Leafs up 3-1 at 13:37 in the third, but the Senators, who had lost 4-3 to the Anaheim Ducks the night before, managed to come back again.

In the final minute of the game, Ottawa forward Dean McAmmond scored a short-handed goal at 19:11 to make it a one-goal game. But with the net empty, the Senators could not get the tying goal.

Hello Finger, goodbye Tlusty

Jeff Finger is ready to play. Jason Blake is apparently out of the doghouse. Jiri Tlusty has been sent to the minors. And Carlo Colaiacovo seems to be in danger of taking up permanent residence beside the nearly-forgotten Ian White.

It was another day in Leafland, another day of pulling strings, making moves as patient GM Cliff Fletcher shops around his excess defencemen.

Fletcher said he'd hold on to his blueliners "until somebody blows us away with something that may appeal to us. We're wide open. Obviously, we know what we have, and we're going to take advantage of it at the appropriate time.

"We know they're NHL defencemen. I'm not saying who we'd move," added Fletcher, who said he had "preliminary" talks with his colleagues at the GM's meetings in Chicago earlier this week. "We'll listen to anything anyone has had to offer and go from there."

Tlusty, the Leafs' 20-year-old sophomore winger, knew something was up yesterday when he wore the same green jersey Blake and Matt Stajan had worn prior to their one-game status as healthy scratches.

"Everybody's worried about his spot (in the lineup) if you're wearing a green jersey," said Tlusty, who spoke to reporters before his demotion was confirmed. "I'm worried about playing hard because I didn't play well. I understand why I'm wearing the green jersey. I didn't play well the last two games. That's what happens. I have to start doing things better."

Moving Tlusty did not require waivers and alleviated the roster pressure with Finger being reactivated.

"He hasn't been getting things done," Fletcher said of Tlusty. "It might do him some good to get down there, play a few games. He'll work his way back up here, for sure."

Finger, the Leafs' $14 million free agent defenceman, is fully healed from a broken bone in his foot.

"I would have played the first day I skated, if it was up to me, but it's not up to me," said Finger, eager to show fans his physical style of play. "It's been a little bit frustrating. That's the game and that's life and that's how it goes."

Fletcher said Finger and Blake were expected to play tonight against the Ottawa Senators. His activation leaves the Leafs with three extra skaters - the roster limit of 23 - but all of them are defencemen. It will be a game-day decision for coach Ron Wilson to decide which defenceman who played in Boston will sit alongside Colaiacovo and White.

There was supposed to have been some kind of rotation among defencemen, in Wilson's words, to keep everyone a bit unhappy rather have one player really angry. But Colaiacovo is quietly seething.

While reporters gathered to speak with Finger, Mike Van Ryn and Luke Schenn - Colaiacovo's body language was sullen. Wilson acknowledged Colaiacovo has been to his office to find out what it is he's done to deserve being benched.

"I've talked to Carlo. He's got to keep working for when his chance comes," said Wilson. "We win a game, we play well defensively, it's hard to crack the lineup.

"There's always going to be lots of injuries. You don't get down, you get ready. If you get an opportunity and you've been pouting, you're only going to let yourself down when you get back in there."

Wilson said it's difficult to change a lineup that's winning. Van Ryn has played two solid games since his benching, and now is the team's leading scorer among defencemen. Anton Stralman - another sophomore who could be sent down without clearing waivers - is second with three points.

"I'd look at it as a healthy competition," Finger said of the nine-man, blue-line corps. "Some guys might look at it as another way. It's the business. That's the way it goes."

Van Ryn, who spent nine months training hard while recuperating from a wrist injury, was upset to have been a healthy scratch earlier. But he understood.

"They're going to play whoever they want to play," said Van Ryn.

Pesky Leafs fight back to beat B's - Leafs 4, Boston 2

It's all but official now: Luke Schenn has made the Leafs as a teenage defenceman.

Leafs coach Ron Wilson made his enthusiasm for the 18-year-old's play quite clear last night after a solid, 4-2 win over Boston in which Schenn stood up for Matt Stajan and the rest of his teammates after Stajan was hammered on a hit by Bruins defenceman Dennis Wideman.

"He'll more than likely stay, but I can't guarantee it," Wilson said of Schenn, who has been the best story in Toronto since training camp, but could be sent back to junior under NHL contract guidelines. "He's a sponge, and he wants to get better.

"And he has to be a big hit in the dressing room the way he jumped in their for Matt."

Stajan concurred with his coach, but the Leafs must first decide if they want to keep Schenn past nine games in the NHL, the limit at which they must honour the first year of his contract or return him to junior.

That seems a formality now, since Schenn's play has made him one of the Leafs' top four defencemen.

"That showed a lot about him, and I definitely have to buy him a few dinners now, I owe him," said Stajan, who was rocked, but not injured, by the first-period hit.

"That's what this team has to be all about. We have to stick up for each other, we're a big family, we're all brothers and it's great when your youngest guy backs you up like that."

Schenn's character put an exclamation point on a night full of character-building efforts.

Stajan came back to pick up an assist on Nik Antropov's tying goal in the second period. Anton Stralman scored the winner in the third period, while Nik Hagman, with an empty netter, and Mike Van Ryn, had the other Toronto goals.

The winner was sweet vindication for Stralman, who inadvertently tipped a Blake Wheeler centring pass into his net in the first period, putting the Leafs in a 2-0 hole.

"It was fun to score, but I wasn't thinking about what happened before," Stralman said. "Sometimes you get lucky and my goal was lucky, and the other goal (into his net) was unlucky."

Van Ryn, like Stralman, bagged his first goal of the season. Van Ryn was also slammed through the glass thanks to a thunderous hit from Milan Lucic on the first shift of the second period.

"I didn't think I was hit that hard. I knew there was glass down in my equipment," said Van Ryn, who left the ice and cleaned up in the dressing room before returning.

"It's one of those things that happens, and I've seen it happen to other players but I've never had something like that happen to me. It wasn't like I was hurt or anything.

"He (Lucic) is a big guy and I guess the glass just exploded. The training staff vacuumed my equipment and I changed my undershirt and went out again, and that was it."

The game also marked another instalment of Wilson's accountability principle as the coach benched Jason Blake and welcomed back Ryan Hollweg from a three-game suspension for boarding.

The Leafs outshot an opponent and came back from a 2-0 first period deficit for the second game in a row. But the real buzz in the dressing room, beyond the big-time bodychecks and the triumphant comeback, was "the kid."

"Who stepped in there, eh, and how old is he ...?" Wilson said of Schenn and the fact he stood up for Stajan. "He's done everything anyone would want on your team, let alone an 18-year-old."

Luckless Leafs lose again in a shootout - Anaheim 3, Toronto 2

TORONTO - Vesa Toskala had stopped 19 of 21 shots against the Anaheim Ducks Tuesday night. But with the game tied 2-2 and headed to a shootout, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson put the call in for his closer.

It was a gamble that failed to pay off.

Though Wilson likes to describe Curtis Joseph as a shootout specialist, the Leafs backup had been sitting on the bench for 2 1/2 hours when he was inserted into the game.

His muscles were cold. His mind was not sharp. And it showed.

"That's entertainment," Joseph said.

Teemu Selanne and Corey Perry both scored in the shootout as the Ducks defeated the Leafs 3-2 at the Air Canada Centre. Toronto's Nikolai Kulemin and Tomas Kaberle were both stopped by Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Toskala did not appear upset about being pulled. Sure, he would have preferred to try to get Toronto the win. But the 31-year-old had allowed four goals on five shots and lost twice in shootouts this season.

"I don't have any problem at all," Toskala said. "As a team we just have to find a way to get those points because they're going to be huge (at the) end of the season. Today we were trying this - it didn't work."

Wilson defended his decision.

"It's percentages," he said. "You guys are experts. What's their save percentages? Career-wise, they've only scored 28 per cent of the time (on Joseph). On Toskala, teams have scored 54 per cent of the time. You have to score obviously. But you also need some saves."

Toskala has a career record of 2-9 in shootout decisions. Joseph headed into Tuesday night's game with a 5-3 record and had allowed only five goals on 32 shots.

Wilson had told reporters on Monday that he was against replacing a goaltender for the shootout because of the potential injury risks. But he said that Joseph was given a heads-up well before going in.

"I told Curtis that if this goes the way that I think it's going to go, be ready," Wilson said. "I want you to start warming up late in the game in case I need to call you; like a pitcher."

Joseph failed to get the save. But Wilson said he would consider switching goaltenders again.

"Tonight it didn't work, but it's the law of averages," he said. "We're going to keep practising it. It's like a three-foot putt. If you don't practice it, you never know if you can make them. And that's all that a shootout really is, practising three-foot putts, making 100 of them in a row and that's what we have to do."

The shootout loss erased what had been a valiant late-game effort by the Leafs.

Down 2-0 in the first period, Toronto outshot Anaheim 15-4 in the second, 13-0 in the third and tied the game on a pair of goals by Nik Antropov. The Toronto forward scored once in the second period and again with 52.7 seconds remaining in the third with the Leafs' net empty for an extra attacker.

"We got our forechecking going and they wore down," Wilson said. "But we got pucks to the net."

Anaheim opened the scoring on a Francois Beauchemin point shot at 4:36.

Midway through the period, Anaheim struck again. This time it was tough guy George Parros, who went top corner with a wrist shot on a breakaway.

After the Leafs managed just one goal in two weekend games, the coaches stressed the importance of getting more pucks and bodies to the net. Through the opening 20 minutes, no one seemed to heed the message.

Toronto's supposed top line of John Mitchell, Antropov and Jason Blake was a minus-1 and did not record a single shot on net in the first period. It was only the Leafs juggled their forwards that the offence showed some sings of life.

Antropov came alive when he was teamed with Matt Stajan and Alexei Ponikarovsky.