Nik Antropov is out to prove the Toronto Maple Leafs can score - and win - without their injured stars. Antropov scored two goals in the third period to lead Toronto to a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
"You can see the last few games, everybody was kind of scoring - young guys take it on their shoulders, and older guys step up and everybody played equal," Antropov said. "Now you have to win all of them (to make the playoffs), so that's what we're trying to do."
Nik Antropov scored two goals and the Toronto Maple Leafs began a five-game road trip with a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at RBC Center.
Bates Battaglia also scored for Toronto, which has won four of its last five games and will visit the New York Rangers on Wednesday. Andrew Raycroft was stellar with 28 saves for Toronto, while Tomas Kaberle added an empty-net goal in the victory.
Ray Whitney tallied the only goal for the Hurricanes, who have lost four of their last five games and are now eight points behind the Southeast Division- leading Atlanta Thrashers.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will begin their longest road trip of the season tonight, when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes at RBC Center.
The Maple Leafs have won three of their last four games and were able to beat the arch-rival Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. Pavel Kubina notched a pair of goals and also added an assist to lift Toronto to the 4-1 home victory.
Nik Antropov scored two goals in the third period to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
Bates Battaglia also scored, Tomas Kaberle had an empty-net goal and an assist and Andrew Raycroft stopped 28 shots for the Maple Leafs, who kept the Hurricanes scoreless in the final two periods.
Toronto held a 38-29 shots advantage and won for the fourth time in five games.
Ray Whitney scored and Cam Ward stopped 34 shots for the Hurricanes, who have dropped four of five.
In this, the 40th season of the Philadelphia Flyers and the 40th year since the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup, there hasn't been much worth celebrating.
Unless you look beneath the surface a little.
The Flyers, with a history of going big or going home, are going small this season. They are the worst team in hockey. They have never been that before.
A year ago, when the Leafs were firing Pat Quinn and trying to explain how the playoffs were missed, the Flyers finished with 101 points. One season later, the Leafs are still on the verge of being a playoff team -- they haven't gotten much better, haven't gotten much worse -- the Flyers hid rock bottom.
Kingston Steen discovered laughter recently, an entertaining self-revelation that has seen the three-month-old baby boy breaking out in giggles over just about anything -- including his own feet --ever since.
"It's hilarious," Kingston's proud father, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Alex Steen, said after practice at the Air Canada Centre yesterday. "He is starting to laugh, and he is grabbing at you a little bit.
"It is an amazing time, and you never get it back, and I don't want to miss it."
With defenceman Ian White expected to return to the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup tonight after a three-week absence, he'll find himself paired with former partner Hal Gill.
The duo earned the nickname Fred and Barney from teammates earlier in the season because of the height discrepancy between the towering six-foot-seven Gill and the five-foot-10 White.
In an interesting twist to this plot, White will make his comeback versus the same Carolina Hurricanes team that he first hurt himself against.
The Maple Leafs leave for Tobacco Road this afternoon, hoping their playoff aspirations don't go up in smoke.
Normally, a five-game trip in late January shouldn't be viewed as a make-or-break endeavour for the entire season but, in the minds of some players, it could well end up being exactly that.
"I was the resident poker champ until he showed up," Leafs defenceman Brendan Bell said Monday. "He's dethroned me." No surprise there. Green's poker pedigree stands out among his teammates and really amongst most other NHLers.
Toronto Marlies forward Erik Westrum may have been a visitor, but he certainly looked at home in the AHL all-star game Monday night.
The 27-year-old from Minneapolis scored the tying goal for PlanetUSA midway through the third period in a 7-6 victory over the Canadian all-stars. Westrum, who leads the Marlies with 19 goals, 29 assists and 48 points this season, also had an assist in his second AHL all-star appearance.
The Toronto Maple Leafs had hoped injured forward Darcy Tucker would return soon after the All-Star break to give the team a boost in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Instead, they returned Thursday to find Tucker on crutches with his foot in a cast and no definitive word on when he'll return.
Tucker, the Maple Leafs' top scorer with 19 goals, took a shot off his left foot in a game against Minnesota on Dec. 26. He returned to the lineup Jan. 1 against Boston, but has been sidelined since. He had hoped to come back against Florida on Jan. 18, but experienced more swelling after practicing and was shut down.
Montreal defenseman Sheldon Souray still thinks the Canadiens are better than the Toronto Maple Leafs, despite another loss to their rivals.
Defenseman Pavel Kubina scored twice to lead the Maple Leafs to a 4-1 victory over the Canadiens on Saturday night.
"I would definitely say that team over there is not better than us over the last 50 games," Souray said. "We've shown that we are a better team than them. Every time we play them they get emotionally ready. They pick their game up another gear or two and we don't match it."
The NHL trade deadline is still four weeks away, but already speculation has begun as to which Maple Leafs might be on the move.
The Anaheim Ducks are apparently interested in captain Mats Sundin, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers are reportedly trying to acquire forward Darcy Tucker, and several Stanley Cup contenders are supposedly making bids for veteran Michael Peca.
They may all be rumours with little or no validity. But according to Leafs head coach Paul Maurice, they have the ability to isolate players and tear apart a dressing room if not handled properly.
The Leafs are sitting two points back of the final playoff spot in the East, and the team's next three games (Hurricanes, Rangers, Senators) are against clubs they are anxious to catch.
Who's hot? Ian White's shoulder. The diminutive defenceman has been given the medical thumbs-up to play after missing six games.
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment was wrong in assuming hockey fans would fill the Ricoh Coliseum for Marlies games simply because of the success of the Leafs brand, says the president of the American Hockey League.
But Dave Andrews expects MLSE will overhaul its business approach for the Marlies next season, introducing a more fan-friendly marketing plan.
The Maple Leafs are in the process of welcoming back two significant defencemen: Ian White from injury and Pavel Kubina from the hockey purgatory of self-doubt.
White will likely be in uniform tonight, his separated shoulder healed enough over the last three weeks that he'll be able to employ his puck moving skills at Carolina. Like Tobacco Road's chief export, his recovery was cut and dried.
Kubina's return to form, an on-going process, is more vague; more mental than medicinal.
Paul Maurice has done a masterful job of managing expectations in Canada's largest media market this season.
It started in training camp when the Toronto Maple Leafs head coach predicted his team would be in a dogfight to make the post-season. Score one for Maurice on that front.
On Monday, he tried to downplay what appears on the surface to be a critical five-game road test beginning Tuesday night at Carolina.
Toronto Maple Leafs' Pavel Kubina brought smiles to the faces of adoring fans for a second day in a row.
On Saturday night the big defenceman had a three-point night, and yesterday continued his streak, winning over the hearts of 1,200 kids and their parents raising at least $120,000 for the Easter Seals Society.
"It is a lot of fun having them here and making them happy. This is awesome" Kubina said as he skated, posed for photos and signed blue and white shirts.
In their final game before the all-star break, the Toronto Maple Leafs were dismantled by the Pittsburgh Penguins. It left a sour taste in their mouths and made getting away for a break that much sweeter.
"It was good to get away and forget about things a little bit," said winger Bates Battaglia, who chose Miami Beach as his place to unwind this week.
