Football
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Maple Leafs rev up power play to end five-game skid

TORONTO -- In danger of falling out of playoff
contention, the Toronto Maple Leafs turned on the power against
the Montreal Canadiens.

Captain Mats Sundin scored two of four power-play goals for the
Maple Leafs, who halted a five-game slide with a 5-3 triumph
over the Canadiens.

Entering Tuesday 11th in the Eastern Conference, the Maple Leafs
trailed the Canadiens by eight points for the final playoff
berth. They overcame an early goal by Richard Zednik in this
one, going 4-for-11 with the man advantage to close the gap and
jump into 10th place ahead of Boston, which dropped a 3-2
decision to Buffalo.

"Every game matters, is important, but I know we've got to win a
lot more games than games we lose if we expect to make the
playoffs." Toronto coach Pat Quinn said.

"You have to give the Leafs credit tonight, they played a strong
game," Canadiens interim coach Bob Gainey said. "They got good
goaltending, they forced us into those mistakes that ended up
being power-play advantages for them and they got the puck in
the net."

Sundin snapped a 1-1 tie 95 seconds into the second period and
rookie Kyle Wellwood netted a power-play goal with less than
four minutes to go in the session for a two-goal bulge. Sundin's
tally was his 800th point as a Maple Leaf, leaving him 58
behind Hall of Famer Dave Keon for second on the franchise list.

"We all know we have to win a lot more games," Sundin said.
"This is certainly a start anyway."

Defenseman Andrei Markov drew Montreal within 3-2 with
five-tenths of a second remaining in the period, but Jason
Allison and Sundin scored man-advantage tallies 71 seconds apart
in the third to provide Toronto with a comfortable lead.

"We've got to focus and not take penalties, keep it 5-on-5,"
Montreal's Alexei Kovalev said.

Blue-liner Tomas Kaberle scored a goal and set up three others
for a career-high four points for Toronto. All three assists
came on the power play, giving him 32 on the season - one behind
league leader Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit.

"He's one of the best players in the league, one of the best
passers," defense partner Bryan McCabe said of Kaberle. "He
showed that tonight when we needed him big. He does that all
the time for us. He's one of our best players."

Rookie Chris Higgins tallied midway through the third extend his
goal-scoring streak to three games for the Canadiens, who
failed to earn a point for the first time in 10 games.

"There's no panic," said Montreal netminder Cristobal Huet,
whose team fell to 3-1-1 on its six-game road trip that
concludes in Boston on Thursday. "We had seven of 10 points on
the road trip. It's been a good road trip so far."

Zednik put Montreal on the board at 5:07 of the first period,
tipping Radek Bonk's shot from along the left wing boards past
goaltender Ed Belfour. But Kaberle forged a 1-1 tie 98 seconds
later, when he received a backhand pass across the slot from
Darcy Tucker and fired a shot by Huet.

Sundin scored on a one-timer from the left point early in the
second and Wellwood recorded his 10th of the season with 3:54
left in the period for a 3-1 bulge. But Markov's shot from the
left side of the net sneaked inside the right goalpost just
before time expired to make it a one-goal game.

Huet cost himself a tally 6 1/2 minutes into the third.
Attempting to clear the puck from behind his own net during a
Toronto power play, the goalie put it right on the stick of
Allison, who fired it into a vacant net from the right circle
for his 11th of the campaign.

"That was a killer for us," Huet said. "For sure, I'd like to
have that back."

Sundin beat Huet to the short side with a slap shot from the
left circle at 7:45 to make it 5-2 before Higgins tapped in a
loose puck from the low slot with 8:20 remaining.

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