Power-play pluggers?

By LANCE HORNBY -- Toronto Sun
Not even the space-age Hubble Telescope could find a Maple Leaf in front of the enemy net during recent power plays.

But the alignment could be changing as early as tonight, when Toronto visits the Carolina Hurricanes.

With his patience growing thin at all the pretty passing he sees on the power play, general manager/coach Pat Quinn may plop one of his enforcers into the slot for a little mayhem and maybe a goal or two.

Chris McAllister, the tallest player in franchise history at 6-foot-8, is a candidate, although Quinn said yesterday there's "a possibility Tie (Domi) will be in there."

"We had considered Chris for either the Pittsburgh game or the Philadelphia game (last week)," Quinn said. "We do play too much on the outside. We do have Dmitri Khristich (on the second power-play unit) who gets involved. Maybe it gets you a goal."

Toronto ranks among the National Hockey League's top 10 power plays, and is 7-for-52 in the past 13 games. That's not exactly a disaster, but not worthy of the NHL's highest-scoring team and a constant irritant going back a year or so prior to Quinn's arrival. The Leafs were 0-for-5 on Monday against Washington.

McAllister and Domi, who have yet to score this season, are elated at the prospect of power-play duty.

"Lorne Molleken (now the Chicago Blackhawks coach), put me there in junior," said McAllister, an ex-Saskatoon Blade. "I'm willing to take a beating. I'll just get my (225-pound) body in there and screen."

McAllister, who is primarily a defenceman but can play left wing, relishes a chance to bother Carolina goaltender Arturs Irbe, a former teammate with the Vancouver Canucks. One of the league's smallest goaltenders at 5-foot-8, Irbe would be at an obvious disadvantage trying to see around McAllister.

DISTURBERS IN THE TRENCH

"I know how Archie plays and he doesn't like the traffic, which would be a plus for me," McAllister said. "But I realize you have to have good hands to go after loose pucks, too."

Domi also looks forward to getting a shot.

"(Ex-coach) Pat Burns let me on the power play," Domi said. "If (Quinn) wants me to play net, I would gladly do it. They call it the trenches in front and believe me, it's the trenches.

"I don't mind the cross-checking. You have to pay a price. But the guy who does that to me knows he might get a punch on the nose, and that might be the advantage of having a guy like me in there."

The promotion of abrasive forward Adam Mair and Quinn's interest in beefing up his power play, is a signal the latter wants to see his team get more proactive against certain opponents.

"It's an element I would like to see more of," Quinn said. "What we don't have is the guy who can get us in a game we're sleeping in. I would rather have some guy on our team be the one to wake us up (rather than the aggressive Gary Roberts-type the Leafs will face tonight)."

If injured defenceman Bryan Berard and winger Mike Johnson are ready as expected, Quinn will have a decision to make on giving Mair another shot, while Berard would bump callup Dmitri Yakushin.

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