Habs Down Leafs In OT
Posted November 13, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered another heartbreaker Tuesday night, when Montreal Canadiens defenceman Mike Komisarek scored 35 seconds into overtime to lift his club to a 4-3 victory.
Komisarek intercepted an errant Bryan McCabe pass at the Montreal blue-line and skated in on a clear breakaway, beating goaltender Andrew Raycroft with a forehand deke.
Komisarek’s goal meant a win for Montreal rookie netminder Carey Price, who made his first start against the Leafs and didn’t disappoint stopping 37 of 40 shots, keeping his teams alive at several pivotal moments including stopping a McCabe shot just seconds before the winning goal.
Alexei Kovalev, Andrei Kostitsyn and Andrei Markov also scored for the Canadiens, who beat the Leafs for the first time this season in three tries.
Kyle Wellwood had his first two goals of the season while Boyd Devereaux also scored for the Maple Leafs, who had a 3-2 lead in the third period that they let slip away.
Montreal opened the scoring on Markov’s blast during a 5-3 power play midway through the first, but the second was all Blue and White, starting with Wellwood’s first of the year just two minutes in.
But the Leafs also squandered several mid-game opportunities, including a 5-on-3 of their own that Price made his by making several dazzling saves. Wellwood finally beat the youngster again with just over a minute to go in the second period, setting up a third period in which Montreal twice tied the score.
To be sure it was a tough and frustrating loss for Paul Maurice’s club, who dropped a shootout to the Rangers in their previous game. The next test for the Buds is Thursday against the Bruins in Boston.
