Lumme leads Leafs over Canucks
Canadian Press
1/1/2003
VANCOUVER (CP) - Ed Belfour had a lot more fun in Vancouver than his last appearance at GM Place.
On Tuesday night, the veteran goalie shut the door after the first period, stopped five breakaways while blocking 22 shots and backstopped the injury-riddled Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-3 comeback win over the Canucks.
Belfour, who got the hook when he last appeared here in February as a Dallas Star then trashed lockers and video equipment, made two key breakaway saves on Matt Cooke before Jyrki Lumme snapped a 3-3 tie for the Leafs.
Belfour couldn't recall a game where he faced so many snipers one-on-one.
?I don't think so,'' he said. ?It was a lot. But it was a fun night and we're real happy to win.''
Belfour twice foiled the speedy Brendan Morrison and beat Markus Naslund, the Canucks' top scorer who left the penalty box with the puck on his stick.
?I'm just feeling healthy, feeling strong and the guys in front of me are playing good defence and everybody's supporting one another.''
It's a good thing Belfour is feeling healthy. The gritty Leafs won the game with three of their top four forwards out of the lineup. Mats Sundin has a bruised shoulder, top scorer Alex Mogilny sat out with a bad back and Mikael Renberg is suffering from an infected finger.
To make matters worse, Karel Pilar came down with the flu and Nik Antropov left the game with an upper body injury after he gave the Leafs a 1-1 tie.
?It didn't look pretty in the first period but nobody was down ... everybody said the right things so we just kept plugging away,'' said Lumme who jumped into the attack during a power play to fire high over Vancouver goalie Dan Cloutier.
But Belfour was the key to the Leafs going undefeated (4-0-2-1) in regulation time during their last seven games.
?He's probably one of the best goalies at stopping breakaways but it's just the way he is, the way he carries himself, the way he does everything, it just gives everyone so much more confidence,'' said Lumme.
After Todd Bertuzzi, Markus Naslund and Brent Sopel made the Canucks 3-for-3 on the power play to forge a 3-1 first-period lead, Darcy Tucker scored on a short-handed effort after Sopel's shot was blocked by Bryan McCabe.
Paul Healey gave Toronto a 3-3 tie entering the third period when Cloutier was out of position after giving up a big rebound.
Robert Reichel added an empty-net goal for Toronto.
?We tried to keep it simple and play hard on their key players and be hungry out there,'' said Tucker. ?We didn't get away from what we wanted to do except for the times we took the penalties.
?We have a great character team. When guys go out of the lineup guys step in and are willing to do whatever it takes to win. We had a more gritty team than we normally do because our skill players were out of the lineup.''
Coach Pat Quinn said the rash of injuries was reminiscent of the Leafs' playoff drive last season.
?You know people are off the bench so you tighten up and you still have pride in your profession,'' said the former Vancouver coach. ?You think `you know what, I'm not chopped liver, I can play this game too'.
?That's what we had. We went out and showed we could reach out and grab some things.''
Naslund said it was a frustrating game that got away from the Canucks.
?When you're up 3-1 and playing decent like you did in the first (period) you're hoping to push and hopefully get the fourth (goal) because that would have been a key.''
Sopel, who equalled his career-high three points in a game during the first period, said the gritty play by the Leafs, especially the agitating by Tie Domi, was a factor.
?They got us off our edge a little bit and you could look at it like it maybe cost us. Tie worked hard and drew a few penalties and got us off our edge a little bit. We didn't stick to our game plan and things just got out of hand for 20 minutes there.''
Notes: Although veteran defenceman Bryan Helmer was called up by the Canucks from the AHL Manitoba Moose, he did not play ... he is insurance after all-star Ed Jovanovski suffered a fractured heel Saturday ... Harold Druken, who scored the goal that got Vancouver into the 2001 playoffs, returned as a Leaf and logged 16:41 of ice time ... rugged Toronto forward Shayne Corson has resumed skating and is hopeful his reinjured groin will be better by the end of the week.
Cheers,
Aquaman