Kyle Wellwood scored the winner in round number seven of an overtime shootout as the Toronto Maple Leafs edged the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 at the Bell Centre.
Jean-Sebastien Aubin outduelled David Aebischer in the shootout, foiling six Canadiens and allowing only a goal to Sergei Samsanov.
Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin celebrates with teammates Tomas Kaberle, left, and Mats Sundin, top, after defeating the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in an overtime shootout in Montreal on Saturday.
(Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)
Tomas Kaberle tallied three goals and an assist to lead the Toronto attack in regulation, but it was once again a frustrating game for the Leafs as their defence buckled in the third period, allowing goals to Sheldon Souray and Sergei Samsanov in the final seven minutes.
Overtime was equally frustrating for both teams, as the back and forth play yielded several chances.
Aggressive forechecking
For the first two periods, the Maple Leafs used the principle that the best defence is a good offence to stymie the Canadiens. More specifically, they dominated the puck with aggressive forechecking and outshot Montreal 32-12.
The strategy helped protect Aubin, the young goaltender who started in place of the struggling Andrew Raycroft, who in his last two games had allowed 12 goals against the Ottawa Senators .
The Leafs scored the first goal of the game on the power play, as Alex Ponikarovsky fired a 19-foot wrist shot past Montreal goaltender David Aebischer less than two minutes into the game after a Saku Koivu penalty.
Toronto's forecheckers, and in particular Darcy Tucker, were responsible for the team's next two goals.
Kaberle added the Leafs' second goal after Tucker outfought three Canadiens for control of the puck to the left of the Montreal net and then flipped a pass in front of the net to the defenceman, who buried it past Aubischer.
Tucker also fed Kaberle for his second goal of the night, winning the puck on the right side of Montreal's net. Though replays appeared to show Kaberle's shot hit Michael Peca's shin before bouncing past Aebischer, the defenceman was credited with the goal.
Samsanov scored his third goal of the season — and Montreal's only goal of the period — and finished with two goals, an encouraging sign from a player who had been removed from the second line this week because of a poor start to the season.
Clever rush
In the second period Montreal closed to 3-2 on a clever rush by Alexander Perezhogin, who split two defenders and flipped the puck past Aubin's left side.
Kaberle scored his final goal thanks to a good rush from Matt Stajan and more sloppy puck control from Aebischer. Stajan fired a shot from the right wing that Aebischer stopped with his left leg. But Kaberle got the rebound behind the net and flipped it towards the goalie, who bobbled it and allowed it to trickle in.
Montreal's Alexei Kovalev also had a strong game with three assists, and Aebischer also played well, allowing only four goals on a whopping 51 shots.
Toronto allowed only 22 shots on goal.
After Samsanov and Kaberle scored on their first shots of the shootout, neither team could get the puck past the two goalies until Wellwood scored on the seventh attempt.
The win improved Toronto's record to 5-4-3 and dropped Montreal's to 5-2-3.
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