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PANTHERS 3, Maple Leafs 1
Mellanby celebrates 1000th game with a goal
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- Scott Mellanby nearly missed his 1,000th career game.
The Florida Panthers captain woke up Wednesday morning with the flu, spent much of the day in bed and didn't decide to play until three hours before the first puck dropped.
"I knew if I got to the rink, the adrenaline would start flowing and I would get through the game," said Mellanby, the 149th player in league history to reach the 1,000-game milestone.
Mellanby's rapid recovery -- and early goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs -- may have gotten the Panthers out of a late-season slump.
Mellanby scored a goal and Pavel Bure, the NHL's leading scorer, added two as the Panthers snapped a four-game home losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.
The Panthers, 2-5 in their last seven games, remained two points ahead of Washington for first place in the Southeast Division. Florida led by 16 points on Jan. 15. Florida is 8-11-1 in its last 20 games.
"We haven't played well enough in the last two or three weeks to be overly thrilled with tonight's win," said Florida's Ray Whitney, who had two assists. "We only did it for one game. It doesn't mean we're out of what we were in."
It's certainly a start.
Mellanby gave the Panthers an early lead with a power-play goal in the first period. Whitney faked a shot from the left circle and found Mellanby streaking to the front of the goal. Mellanby's shot beat Curtis Joseph for his 13th goal of the season.
Bure gave Florida a 2-0 lead in the 17th minute of the first. He took a pass from Victor Kozlov following a faceoff and blasted a shot past Joseph's outstretched leg and just inside the left post.
"It was time for us to turn things around," Bure said. "It was a big game for us and it showed us what we can do. Hopefully, we'll get our confidence back."
Toronto, which lost for the first time in four games, cut the lead to 2-1 when Alyn McCauley's shot from just inside the blue line slipped through the legs of Mike Vernon in a 4-on-4 situation.
Vernon faced only 21 shots, but his biggest saves came in the third period. Vernon made a kick save in a 1-on-1 situation against Mats Sundin with 10 minutes to go. Then he held off Sundin again just two minutes later, stopping a blast from the right circle with a glove save.
Joseph had 23 saves for the Maple Leafs.
"We had our chances to win the game, but gave up a lot of opportunities," Sundin said. "They had a strong first period and they got the best of us tonight."
Bure added an empty-netter with 33 seconds remaining to seal the victory. Bure, who has 45 goals, tied Mellanby's franchise record for points in a season with 70.
"We had some decent chances," Toronto defenseman Bryan Berard said. "We wanted to take Bure out of the game and he scored two goals. This team lives off Bure."
Before the game, Mellanby received a sterling silver hockey stick from the team as well as a $10,000 donation to his Mellanby Autism Foundation. Mellanby, whose 3-year-old son Carter is autistic, also got a silver and gold Rolex watch from his teammates and a Tiffany clock from the NHL Players' Association.
Summary
-----------------------------
Toronto 0 1 0--1
Florida 2 0 1--3
-----------------------------
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Florida, Mellanby 13 (power play) (Whitney,
Kozlov), 3:22. 2, Florida, P Bure 44 (Kozlov, Whitney), 16:13. Penalties:
B Berard, Tor (hooking), 2:07; Kvasha, Fla (Obstr hooking), 13:38; Valk,
Tor (Obstr holding), 17:27.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Toronto, Mccauley 5 (Korolev, Di
Yushkevich), 14:27. Penalties: Tucker, Tor (high sticking), 12:30; Spacek,
Fla (slashing), 12:30; Niedermayer, Fla (Obstr holding), 15:03; Sundin,
Tor (interference), 18:38; Joseph, Tor served by Korolev ( double roughing
minor), 19:36; Parrish, Fla (roughing), 19:36.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 4, Florida, P Bure 45 (empty net)
(Niedermayer), 19:26. Penalties: Niedermayer, Fla (tripping), 7:39; Valk,
Tor (roughing), 11:17; Laus, Fla (roughing), 11:17; Domi, Tor (roughing),
17:07; Laus, Fla (roughing), 17:07.
Shots on goal:
---------------------------------
Toronto 6 3 12--21
Florida 10 7 9--26
---------------------------------
Power-play Conversions: Tor - 0 of 3, Fla - 1 of 4. Goalies: Toronto,
Joseph (25 shots, 23 saves; record: 28-16-7). Florida, Vernon (21, 20;
record: 17-15-1). A:15,896. Referee: Trottier. Linesmen: Driscoll,
Racicot.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS
Toronto Florida
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
Adams 0 0 -1 1 Hedican 0 0 -1 0
Antropov 0 0 -2 0 Kozlov 0 2 +1 4
B Berard 0 0 -1 1 Kvasha 0 0 even 0
Clark 0 0 -1 0 Laus 0 0 +1 0
Cross 0 0 -1 0 Mellanby 1 0 -1 3
Di Yushkevich 0 1 even 0 Niedermayer 0 1 +1 2
Domi 0 0 -1 1 P Bure 2 0 +2 5
Hoglund 0 0 even 5 Parrish 0 0 even 0
Kaberle 0 0 even 0 Pitlick 0 0 +1 2
Karpovtsev 0 0 even 0 R Johnson 0 0 even 1
Korolev 0 1 +1 1 R Svehla 0 0 even 1
Markov 0 0 even 1 Sheppard 0 0 even 1
Mccauley 1 0 +1 3 Simpson 0 0 even 2
Pdid 0 0 -1 2 Spacek 0 0 +1 1
Perreault 0 0 even 0 Stewart 0 0 even 0
Sundin 0 0 -1 2 Whitney 0 2 even 3
Tucker 0 0 even 3 Wilson 0 0 +1 1
Valk 0 0 even 1 Worrell 0 0 even 0
Khristich Mouth Jakopin Abdominal
Thomas Toe Injury Boyle Healthy
Mcallister Healthy Shtalenkov Healthy
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