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December 29, 2009

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HomeSportsIce Hockey

Maple Leafs ride on White's late act

IAN White scored the winning goal with a little over a minute remaining as the Toronto Maple Leafs edged the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Sunday in NHL action.

White's slap shot fired past Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with 1:22 on the clock, snapping the third tie of the contest and giving Toronto a first win in four games.

"I didn't see much net there," White told reporters. "But most butterfly goalies leave the corners open. I just happened to find one."

The decisive goal came just 53 seconds after the Penguins had leveled the game at 3-3.

"We didn't sit back and wait for overtime," Maple Leafs Ron Wilson said. "We wanted to get the puck in deep."

The loss prevented Pittsburgh from taking over first place in the Atlantic Division. Both Pittsburgh and New Jersey have 53 points with the Devils playing fewer games.

"We had a lot of resiliency out there," White said. "We kept battling back."

The defenseman also had an assist on Jason Blake's second period goal that put Toronto ahead 3-2 before Pittsburgh tied the score on Mike Rupp's tally with 2:15 left in the game.

"It was a game that was up for grabs and they got it," Rupp said.

Lee Stempniak had a goal and two assists for the Leafs, who also got a first period goal from Luke Schenn.

Leafs' Finnish netminder Vesa Toskala also played a key role in the win, stopping 21-of-24 shots.

"It was a tough game, because there weren't a lot of shots," said Toskala, who won for the seventh time in nine career games against the Penguins. "The guys did a good job in front of me."

Sidney Crosby scored his 23rd goal of the season on a power-play for Pittsburgh in the second period for a 2-2 tie.

Matt Cooke tallied the Penguins' other goal.

In Chicago, Patrick Kane scored his second goal of the game with 43.4 seconds to play to cap a wild third period Sunday and lift the Chicago Blackhawks to a 5-4 victory over the Nashville Predators.

John Madden scored twice in the third for the NHL-leading Blackhawks, who beat Nashville on consecutive nights to open an eight-point lead in the Central Division over the second-place Predators.

Chicago (26-9-3) trailed 1-2 entering the final period, went up 4-2, let Nashville tie it and then finally won on Kane's team-high 15th goal.

Brian Campbell also scored for Chicago. Marcel Goc, Martin Erat, Dan Hamhuis and Cody Franson scored for Nashville.

In Calgary, Alberta, Mason Raymond scored three times in a 14:15 span for a natural hat-trick, and Roberto Luongo made 29 saves for Vancouver as the Canucks blasted the Flames 5-1.

Raymond scored twice in a 34-second span late in the first period to give Calgary a 4-1 lead, and completed the hat trick on a power play at 12:31 of the second.

Henrik Sedin and Kyle Wellwood also scored for Vancouver. Jarome Iginla scored his 20th goal for Calgary.

In Uniondale, New York, Jeff Carter snapped a second-period tie as Philadelphia beat the New York Islanders for the 13th straight time, 2-1.

The Flyers, who have won three in a row overall for the first time in two months, haven't lost to the Islanders since February 2008. It is the longest active streak in the NHL, one win more than Washington's current 12-game run over Tampa Bay.

Danny Briere also scored, and Michael Leighton made 28 saves. Jon Sim scored for the Islanders.

Elsewhere, it was: Bruins 2, Panthers 1; and Sabres 5, Blues 3.


 

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