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RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The Toronto Maple Leafs refuse to let adversity get the best of them. Jonas Hoglund's power-play goal midway through the second period snapped a tie and helped the Maple Leafs to a 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in the opening game of the Eastern Conference finals. Playing without eight regulars, Toronto killed off seven power plays, including four in a row, and used one of its own to take the lead in the series. With Carolina's Aaron Ward serving a hooking infraction, defenseman Nathan Dempsey took a pass from Gary Roberts just inside the blue line and fired a rising slap shot toward the net. Hoglund scored his first goal since Game Six of the conference quarterfinals against the New York Islanders, deflecting the puck past goaltender Arturs Irbe, who argued that Hoglund's stick was above the crossbar. "Nathan Dempsey took the shot and it was a bit high," Hoglund said. "I just tried to get my stick on it. Luckily, it went in. Whenever I get one off a tip, it's luck, but I've done it a few times actually, so maybe it's not luck after all. I was pretty sure it wasn't a high stick." "He's been getting, in my opinion, stronger through the series," Toronto coach Pat Quinn said. "Tonight may have been his best effort. He was around the puck and he had a solid game tonight." After the play was reviewed, the goal stood and the Maple Leafs tightened the reins, allowing few quality chances against goalie Curtis Joseph. "There was no doubt in my mind," Dempsey said. "I thought for sure it was under the crossbar. Trust me, I can't shoot that high anyway and it was good because that made it easier for Hoglund to tip it in." "As far as the stick tip, those are the ones for the referees to call and it was a close call, but tonight it went (Toronto's) way," Irbe said. "Maybe the next night we can get the breaks. I really can't make a judgment. I made the motion to the ref and he said, 'I'm going upstairs' (to replay). I know the puck was going a bit wide and a little bit high, but because the player played the puck in front of me, it's a tough call. It's right around the crossbar and you know it's a judgment call. I'm not going to complain about it." After allowing 11 goals on 38 power-play chances in the conference quarterfinals, the Maple Leafs killed off 26 of Ottawa's 31 man-advantage situations in the semifinals. "That was a big part of the game for us," Dempsey said. "That's a part of the game that we didn't want to get into because then you have guys that end up playing too much. With a power play like they have, you can't give them too many chances or they are going to do some damage." Joseph, who suffered a broken finger on his left hand in a February 26 contest against the Hurricanes, turned away 31 shots, including Jeff O'Neill's slapper from just above the left faceoff circle with under four minutes remaining. "Once we got the lead, we played exceptionally well positionally through the neutral zone, which helps our game tremendously," Joseph said. "He played well," Carolina captain Ron Francis said. "He made a lot of saves for them and we have to find some way to get some past him." Toronto had yet another member of its regular lineup on the sidelines as rugged right wing Tie Domi sat out with a leg injury. The Maple Leafs were already missing their top two regular season scoring leaders, Mats Sundin and Darcy Tucker, along with right wings Mikael Renberg and Garry Valk and defensemen Dmitry Yushkevich, Jyrki Lumme and Karel Pilar. "I try not to let myself think about that a lot," Quinn said. "You know, as a coach, you're one of the leaders on the team, so you can't show an emotion that indicates that we've lost some people and therefore, what's the use? We worked hard and long to get here." "As of right now, we aren't really focusing too hard on that," Dempsey said. "We are just focusing on the guys that we do have out there." Referees Rob Shick and Dan Marouelli made good use of their whistles, calling 13 penalties in the first two periods and three in the first 2:22. With Carolina enjoying their second man advantage, O'Neill cashed in. Francis, who gained control in the right circle, feathered a pass to the front of the net. Defenseman Cory Cross intercepted the puck and tried to backhand it into the left corner, but his clearing attempt hit O'Neill's right glove and bounced into the net at 3:23 to give the Hurricanes the lead. "Even though we got the first goal on the power play, I don't think it was really solid for the rest of the game," O'Neill said. "We did have some chances but didn't bury them. The power play is definitely something we need to get better at." As Wade Belak and Martin Gelinas served coincidental penalties, Toronto drew even. Alexander Mogilny, who had scored three of the Leafs' last four goals, skated down the right wing and unleashed a slapper from the right circle that Irbe kicked away. The rebound drifted into the left circle and before Travis Green could corral it. Mogilny tracked it down and wristed a shot that beat Irbe at 7:02 to tie the contest. "The rebound came right to me and I think it went right through the defenseman's legs," Mogilny said. "I just found the goal." Playing in his 100th career postseason game, Mogilny nearly knotted the score 69 seconds earlier. After carrying the puck down the right wing, the speedy Russian skated around the net and fired a backhander that hit defenseman Marek Malik in the crease. Green jumped on the rebound but dumped it right into Irbe, who covered up to gain a stoppage. Carolina nearly took the lead with 6:41 remaining in the first period as Francis' wrister from the bottom of the right circle snuck between Joseph's right arm and body, but defenseman Tomas Kaberle knocked the puck into the left corner before O'Neill could pounce on it. Bates Battaglia, who entered the contest with four-game goal and six-game points streaks, redirected a slapper from the right point 60 seconds into the second that was stopped by Joseph, who also denied Battaglia's rebound shot. The Hurricanes' best opportunity to even the score came with 2:37 left in the third period. Josef Vasicek attempted to fire the puck behind the net from the outside lower edge of the right circle, but it caromed off Shick's skate and directly to Gelinas in front. The 13-year veteran, who was in a non-shooting position, spun around and wristed the puck wide to leave Carolina with a one-goal deficit. "I think the majority of our best chances we never got to the net," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. "We missed the net and were around the net quite a bit. I think it's almost, in some ways, that mental attitude you had with New Jersey. We will probably work hard to get away from making a play from the neutral zone. We need to try and get to the net and simplify that offense a little bit." Carolina fell to 5-1 when it scores first in the postseason. Toronto improved to 5-5 when their opponent gains the early advantage. Toronto gets a much-needed rest as the series doesn't resume until Sunday. "It's definitely nice to get a couple of days rest because we were going every second day for a while there," Roberts said. "We're going to take advantage of these two days and try to be sharper on Sunday." |
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