TORONTO - The Toronto Maple Leafs are no longer the worst team in the National Hockey League.

Previous

Next

View Large

Toronto Maple Leafs players Mikhail Grabovski (L) and Nikolai Kulemin celebrate Kulemin's goal against the Carolina Hurricanes during their NHL hockey game in Raleigh, North Carolina November 6, 2009.

Photograph by : Reuters

ARTICLE TOOLS

• Printer friendly
• E-mail

Font:

• *
• *
• *
• *

That distinction now belongs to the Carolina Hurricanes, who lost a battle of the basement dwellers 3-2 to the Leafs last night in Raleigh, N.C. Receiving goals from John Mitchell, Nikolai Kulemin and Jason Blake, Toronto improved its record to 2-7-5.

With both teams each heading into the game with league-low seven points, last night's contest was jokingly described as a "best of the worst."

The Leafs had just one win in their first 13 games. The Hurricanes had two. But unlike Toronto, which had picked up points in the previous five games, Carolina (2-10-3) entered last night having lost a franchise-record 10 games.

As such, both teams were equally desperate to climb out of the bottom of the standings.

Cam Ward, who has started 14 of Carolina's 15 games this season, was tested early and often. The 25-year-old goaltender stopped all eight shots he faced in the first period. The most dangerous was a breakaway attempt by Blake, who ran out of real estate on a forehand deke.

Brandon Sutter gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 7:51. Taking a pass in the slot from centre Rod Brind'Amour, the sophomore forward lifted a backhand shot over Leafs goaltender Jonas Gustavsson. It was Sutter's third goal of the season and continued a trend that Toronto cannot seem to shake.

In 13 of 14 games this season, the Leafs have allowed the opening goal.

About 10 minutes later, Toronto's deficit grew larger. Following up on a point shot from defenceman Andrew Alberts, forward Sergei Samsonov swept a juicy rebound past a sprawling Gustavsson to give Carolina a 2-0 lead. It was the seventh time that the Leafs have given up the first two goals of a game.

"The first period was not our type of hockey," Toronto forward Phil Kessel told Leafs TV.

The second period was the type of hockey that the Leafs wanted to play.

Mitchell scored 72 seconds into the middle frame to make the score 2-1. Taking a pass from Tomas Kaberle, Mitchell had his one-timer ricochet in off a Carolina player. It was the first goal of the season for the Toronto centre, who replaced Matt Stajan on the top forward line with Kessel and Blake on the wings.

About six minutes later, the Leafs tied the game when Kulemin redirected a centering pass from Alexei Ponikarovsky through Ward's legs.

Gustavsson, who stopped all 10 shots he faced in the second, ensured the game remained tied. Making his second straight start, the lanky goaltender robbed Sutter and rookie Zach Boychuk on two separate partial breakaways.

"He made some big saves in the second," Leafs defenceman Francois Beauchemin told Leafs TV.

In the third period, Toronto's Blake broke the 2-2 deadlock with a power play goal at 11:36. Lee Stempniak fired a shot from the point that Ward stopped. But on the ensuing rebound, Blake scored his second of the season. Kessel received an assist for his first point as a Leaf.