Devils Beat Leafs 2-1 In OT
Posted February 10, 2011 11:06 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Toronto Maple Leafs wasted an excellent outing by James Reimer and blew a chance to creep even closer to the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Ilya Kovalchuk scored 4:36 into overtime Thursday as the New Jersey Devils edged the Maple Leafs 2-1.
It was hardly the fault of Toronto’s rookie goaltender, who finished with 36 saves and was responsible for the game getting past regulation. Kovalchuk’s winner came at the end of a nice solo rush where he took a shot that snuck behind Reimer.
Dainius Zubrus also scored for New Jersey (21-30-4), which improved to 11-1-2 in its last 14 games.
Nikolai Kulemin replied for the Maple Leafs (23-26-6), who moved within seven points of Carolina for the final playoff spot in the East. The Hurricanes lost 2-1 to Philadelphia on Thursday.
As has often been the case of late, Toronto was let down by its power play. The team went 0-for-5 on the evening and is now 3-for-40 during the last 11 games.
It was a tight-checking game that didn’t feature many top-quality scoring chances until the third period.
Toronto led 1-0 after 40 minutes but Zubrus tied it up 3:23 into the final period. He redirected a Mark Fayne point shot over Reimer’s shoulder for his 11th goal of the season.
But the Leafs goalie buckled down from there, denying Zubrus with his glove from in close before getting in front of a Kovalchuk one-timer on the power play. Reimer also got his shoulder on Fayne shot through traffic with about four minutes left in regulation.
There wasn’t very much action earlier in the game.
Phil Kessel was denied on a couple chances just before setting up Kulemin’s 21st goal of the season at 5:18 of the second period. The winger managed to slide the puck in front while being bodied by Colin White, and Kulemin had a wide open net to shoot at.
New Jersey had the chance to tie it up during a 4-on-3 power play but Reimer came out and stopped a Brian Rolston shot with his blocker.
Joffrey Lupul had plenty of jump one day after being acquired by the Maple Leafs in a trade from Anaheim, but saw the puck bounce over his stick on a 2-on-1 in the third period. That was his best scoring chance.
Rookie defenceman Keith Aulie was also in Toronto’s lineup after being called up earlier in the day. He took shifts on the top pairing with Dion Phaneuf — essentially replacing the departed Francois Beauchemin — and was a physical presence.
