Yushkevich closes eyes, makes wish come true

By MIKE ZEISBERGER -- Toronto Sun
As he let the puck go, Dmitry Yushkevich saw only the inside of his eyelids.

"It came right to me," the veteran Maple Leafs defenceman said after his club's 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens last night. "I just closed my eyes and shot it."

WHY LOOK?

Yushkevich may have started a new trend. Why look at the target when you're shooting?

Indeed, Yushkevich's shot zipped by Canadiens goaltender Jeff Hackett and into the top corner. The power-play goal at 16:17 of the second period tied the game 1-1 and injected some life into a Toronto team that had been lacklustre at best.

But the goal meant even more to Yushkevich. Heading into action last night, Yushkevich and fellow defenceman Danny Markov were the only Leafs who had played at least 30 games this season without scoring.

"I was in a hurry to score," Yushkevich said. "Almost everyone had one already, so I had to act quickly and do something about it.

"I did try to shoot high. I know (Hackett) likes to play the butterfly style."

Adding lustre to the moment was the fact the goal came amid the charged atmosphere of the Maple Leafs-Habs rivalry.

"When we play in Montreal, there are so many Toronto fans," Yushkevich said. "When we play here, there are lots of Montreal fans. It's always a big deal ... you want to do well."

MARKOV TO RETURN

Markov did not play last night because of a hyperextended knee.

He will accompany the team on its Florida trip, which features games tomorrow against the Panthers and Tuesday in Tampa versus the Lightning.

Meanwhile, Leafs general manager/coach Pat Quinn reiterated last night that rookie centre Nik Antropov would not be released to play in the world junior championships in Sweden. Antropov played for Kazakhstan during the 1999 tournament and was asked to do it again.

"There was a discussion basically because of the request," Quinn said.

"He was injured at the time. We elected to keep him here. He is contributing to this club."

Antropov, who centred a line between Tie Domi and Dmitri Khristich, was named the game's second star last night.

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