Game 657
Canadiens 5, Maple Leafs 2
Saturday, November 2, 2002
Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario
The Toronto Maple Leafs just want their horrible home stand to end.
Oleg Petrov and Richard Zednik each scored twice to lead the Montréal Canadiens to a 5-2 victory Saturday night over the Maple Leafs.
“We’d like to get out of the scrutiny here. It’s a fishbowl,” said Tie Domi, whose team is 1-4-1 on its seven-game stretch at home. “It would be nice to get out of the city for a few days and get on the road.”
The Maple Leafs, booed off the ice again, have won just three of their 12 games (3-7-2).
“It’s getting more and more puzzling to all of us,” Domi said. “It hasn’t been like this here in a long time.”
Ed Belfour, who hasn’t been as good as departed free agent Curtis Joseph, allowed four goals on 27 shots.
“We need to change something,” Bryan McCabe said. “We are not having too much luck here at home. We need some days to regroup.”
The homestand has included losses to the lowly Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers. Toronto also tied winless Atlanta.
“Our confidence is not what it should be,” Toronto captain Mats Sundin said.
Jeff Hackett made 30 saves for the Canadiens, who were 0-8-1 at the Air Canada Centre since it opened in 1998. The last time the Canadiens won in Toronto was December 26, 1998, when they beat their Original Six rival 2-1 in their last meeting at Maple Leaf Gardens.
“This has been way, way overdue,” Hackett said. “It’s a tough place to play. They’ve always had a better team, so it’s been tough to get points.”
Petrov gave Montréal a 3-2 lead at 1:01 of the third after Belfour stacked his pads too early. A patient Petrov then fired a shot over Belfour’s legs.
Zednik made it 4-2 at 5:00 of the third by shooting the puck over Belfour’s shoulder from the side of the net.
The Maple Leafs then lost their composure. After Domi received an extra penalty for roughing, Wade Belak later received a roughing penalty and an extra penalty for mouthing off to the referee.
“You can’t have that if you want to win in this league,” Sundin said.
Andrei Markov added an empty-net goal with 20 seconds remaining.
McCabe’s hard slap shot from the point deflected off Hackett’s pads to Mikael Renberg, who scored a power-play goal at 1:40 of the second.
Zednik tied it just 18 seconds later, and Petrov gave Montréal the lead 12 seconds after Zednik’s goal.
McCabe’s one-timer tied it at 2 on the power play at 5:23 of the second.
Hackett started in place of José Théodore, who made 36 saves in Friday’s 2-2 tie with Carolina.
NOTES: Hall of Fame inductees Roger Neilson, Clark Gillies, Bernie Federko and Rod Langway were honoured before the game. They’ll be enshrined Monday…Toronto’s Darcy Tucker sent Bill Lindsay to the ice during a fight in the second…Hackett has started five of Montréal’s last seven games…The Canadiens improved to 3-1-4 in their last eight games…McCabe scored his first goal of the season. He also collected his first assist.
Story property of ESPN
BOXSCORE
1st Period
MTL PEN – 07:32 – Juneau, roughing
TOR PEN – 07:32 – Antropov, roughing / holding double minor
TOR PEN – 09:39 – McCabe, cross checking
MTL PEN – 11:55 – Hainsey, interference
2nd Period
MTL PEN – 01:20 – Lindsay, interference + fighting major
TOR PEN – 01:20 – Tucker, fighting major
TOR PP GOAL – 01:40 – Renberg (McCabe, Kaberle)
MTL GOAL – 01:58 – Zednik (Czerkawski, Markov)
MTL GOAL – 02:10 – Petrov (Perreault, Brisebois)
MTL PEN – 03:54 – Gilmour, holding
MTL PEN – 03:54 – team, abusive language
TOR PP GOAL – 05:23 – McCabe (Kaberle, Mogilny)
MTL PEN – 06:30 – Gilmour, roughing
TOR PEN – 09:17 – Fitzgerald, charging
MTL PEN – 18:31 – Brisebois, interference
TOR PEN – 19:17 – Sundin, interference
3rd Period
MTL PP GOAL – 01:01 – Petrov (Brisebois, Markov)
TOR PEN – 01:23 – Antropov, hooking
MTL GOAL – 05:00 – Zednik (Koivu, Czerkawski)
MTL PEN – 09:51 – Brisebois, roughing
TOR PEN – 09:51 – Domi, roughing double minor
TOR PEN – 13:18 – Belak, roughing / unsportsmanlike conduct double minor
MTL EN GOAL – 19:40 – Markov (Rivet, Czerkawski)
TOR PEN – 20:00 – Domi, gross misconduct
GOALTENDERS
MTL – Hackett (W, 30-32)
TOR – Belfour (L, 23-27)
SHOTS ON GOAL
MTL – 5+9+14 = 28
TOR – 9+13+10 = 32
ROSTERS
MTL – Goaltenders: Jeff Hackett, José Théodore. Defence: Patrice Brisebois (A), Karl Dykhuis, Ron Hainsey, Andrei Markov, Craig Rivet (A), Patrick Traverse. Forwards: Sylvain Blouin, Jan Bulis, Mariusz Czerkawski, Andreas Dackell, Doug Gilmour, Joé Juneau, Saku Koivu (C), Bill Lindsay, Randy McKay, Yanic Perreault, Oleg Petrov, Richard Zednik.
TOR – Goaltenders: Ed Belfour, Trevor Kidd. Defence: Wade Belak, Aki Berg, Tomas Kaberle, Jyrki Lumme, Bryan McCabe (A), Robert Svehla. Forwards: Nikolai Antropov, Shayne Corson, Tie Domi, Tom Fitzgerald, Travis Green, Jonas Hoglund, Alyn McCauley, Alexander Mogilny, Robert Reichel, Mikael Renberg, Mats Sundin (C), Darcy Tucker.
TEAM RECORDS
MTL – 4-3-4-0 (.545)
TOR – 3-7-2-0 (.333)
ATTENDANCE
19,313
HOCKEY HALL OF FAME GAME PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Bryan McCabe (TOR) and Richard Zednik (MTL)
Two Solitudes 