Leafs edged in overtime
Posted By LANCE HORNBY, SUN MEDIA
Posted 2 months ago
The Maple Leafs were worried about 19-year-old first round pick John Tavares causing them the most grief last night -- not 40-year-old Rolly the Goalie.
But New York Islanders' Dwayne Roloson made 58 saves to deny a three-goal Toronto rally and its first back-to-back home wins in almost a year. Josh Bailey popped a rebound past relief goalie Jonas Gustavsson with 42.2 seconds in overtime to make it 4-3 on just the Isles' 21st shot.
It was another blow to the Leafs, who have little time to rescue their season with the cloud of trade talk and demotions hovering above.
Five power plays by the teams elapsed before the game's first goal, a Jeff Tambellini breakaway that started with a big rebound out of the Isles' zone. Within 3:13, that built up to a three-goal lead, Matt Moulson tipping a point shot to mark the 11th time the Leafs have been down 2-0 this season and Sean Bergenheim breaking out short-handed and burying it where Tambellini did, past Vesa Toskala's high weak glove hand.
Toskala looked ready to repeat Saturday's heroics, stopping Richard Park on a short-handed breakaway and Kyle Okposo as he exited the penalty box. But looked to shaken after the third goal that Ron Wilson turned to Gustavsson before the period ended.
After four man advantages and 28 totals shots, the Leafs finally beat Roloson when Matt Stajan came out of an empty corner after retrieving his lost stick and found the puck at his feet. A quick relay to Phil Kessel earned the latter his ninth point in 10 games at 15:32 of the second.
Toronto took that momentum into the third period, with Wayne Primeau getting to one of the rebounds Roloson was offering up for his second of the year. Niklas Hagman bagged his team-leading ninth with a great rush around Freddy Meyer and a neat deke of Roloson. But a fifth Leafs' power play came up empty.
Primeau was getting some extra time because centre John Mitchell left late in the first period with a lower body injury after crashing into the boards. That saw a quick promotion for Primeau up from the crash line with Jamal Mayers and Colton Orr.
