Sweet 'n' sour win

By TIM WHARNSBY -- Toronto Sun
The fisticuffs and boisterous atmosphere at the Air Canada Centre last night were likely a release from the frustration of Christmas shopping.

But what became a sour experience with news of Yanic Perreault's broken forearm sweetened somewhat when Mats Sundin scored 27 seconds into overtime to give the Maple Leafs a 3-2 victory over the Penguins.

Tomas Kaberle made a brilliant play at centre ice to intercept a Penguins breakout pass addressed to the league's leading scorer, Jaromir Jagr.

The second-year defenceman then gained the Pittsburgh blue line and fed Jonas Hoglund with a pass. Hoglund found captain Sundin, who had Penguins defenceman Andrew Ference draped all over him, with a pass cutting to the net.

As he was falling down, Sundin was able to beat Penguins goaltender Tom Barrasso for his second goal and third point of the game.

"(Kaberle) made a great play," Sundin said. "Not too many players will do that at that point of the game and when the ice was bad. He showed a lot of poise knowing Jaromir Jagr was behind him."

Kaberle was excited about his effort in overtime.

"We play a little more risky like that in overtime," he said.

Sundin's three points pushed him past Perreault into the club scoring lead with 23 points.

"Curtis Joseph and our bread-and-butter guys got us the two points," said Leafs tough guy Tie Domi, who set Sundin up for a first-period goal and engaged in battles with Barrasso and Penguins pest Matthew Barnaby.

This game had a little of everything. Even the usually quiet Air Canada Centre crowd turned up the volume midway through the chippy and entertaining affair.

"That game had everything you could ask for -- a great rivalry, subplots and a game within a game," Joseph said.

The Penguins smothered the Leafs during the first 30 minutes. The Leafs had just six shots on Barrasso by the time the game was 25 minutes old and the Penguins were winning most of the one-on-one battles.

The Leafs didn't get a shot during a five-minute power play in the first period when Darius Kasparaitis received a checking-from-behind major when he jammed Sergei Berezin's face into the glass.

But, as he often does, Joseph held his club in the game. Eventually, the Leafs found room to roam.

The buzz in the building and the way the Leafs gutted out the victory reminded Joseph of a playoff atmosphere.

"That was the most physical we played all year," Joseph said. "We went to the net all night."

Well, not all night.

Leafs general manager/coach Pat Quinn would like to see his club start to dictate games.

"They looked real sharp early," Quinn said. "But we have become a team that waits to see what happens."

The victory was Quinn's 60th behind the Toronto bench, tying him for 11th on the Maple Leafs list with his predecessor, Mike Murphy.

The win also extended the Leafs' unbeaten streak to 3-0-1. The Buffalo Sabres, who beat Toronto in the Eastern Conference final last spring, are here tomorrow.

Jonas Hoglund, who shares the team lead with Sundin at 13 goals, scored the other Maple Leafs goal in the second period.

Alexei Kovalev scored in the first and second for the Penguins, who outshot Toronto 29-22. Kovalev has five goals in his past three games.

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