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RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Niclas Wallin is becoming an overtime specialist. Wallin scored his second overtime goal of the postseason at 13:42 as the Hurricanes squandered a lead in the final seconds of regulation but defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1, to tie the Eastern Conference finals at one win apiece. After managing just one goal in 52 games during the season, Wallin notched the overtime winner in Game Four of the conference semifinals at Montreal. He came through again to prevent Carolina from falling into a huge hole in this best-of-seven series. The Hurricanes went 9 1/2 minutes without a shot in overtime, but Wallin made his count. He got a feed from Rod Brind'Amour at the top of the slot and whipped a one-timer toward the net. The puck appeared to hit Toronto defenseman Aki Berg and trickled between the pads of helpless goaltender Curtis Joseph. "Like I said before in Montreal, I'm not a goal-scorer," Wallin said. "In practice, I can score some goals, but in game time, I never get the chances. Now I've had two goals, overtime goals, and it's just unbelievable." "It just could not happen to a nicer guy," added Hurricanes goaltender Arturs Irbe, who made 26 saves. "We were really excited to see him score the big goal on the first overtime goal that he scored. And now tonight, we were a little bit laid back. We were kind of expecting him to do that." Third-seeded Carolina improved to 4-1 in overtime in this year's playoffs and made sure the fourth-seeded Maple Leafs cannot wrap up the series at home. Game Three is Tuesday in Toronto. "We needed this game tonight, no question about it," said defenseman Bret Hedican, who scored the Hurricanes' other goal. "For the guys to dig down and get this game, it's a great win for us. It was a must-win. We knew that. We didn't say that before the game much, but we felt it in the dressing room, and the guys responded nice tonight." Coming off a 2-1 win in Game One, the Maple Leafs were fortified with the return of four injured players, including captain Mats Sundin and center Darcy Tucker. Toronto could not get the puck past Irbe, however, and appeared headed to their second shutout loss of this year's playoffs. But the Leafs pulled Joseph for an extra attacker and tied it with 7.2 seconds left in regulation. Sundin, who missed 12 games with a broken left wrist, backhanded a pass from behind the net to Gary Roberts in the bottom of the left faceoff circle. Roberts faked a shot and slid the puck across to a wide-open Alyn McCauley, who one-timed it inside the right goalpost for his fifth playoff goal. "I couldn't really see the puck because I took a number of cross-checks in front of the net," McCauley said. "So I moved away from the front and Gary got the puck and saw a little seam there. He made a great pass and I just tried to get into the upper part of the net, and luckily it found the right part of the mesh." The goal stunned the crowd at the Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena, and seemed to have a carryover effect in overtime. "It was a little quiet in the first few minutes (in the locker room)," Carolina defenseman Sean Hill said. "But then the older guys and leaders started talking about what we've got to do and it doesn't matter that we gave up that one as long as we get the first. That was our focus and the guys came out with some fire under their butts." Toronto had a 7-3 edge in shots in a scoreless first period, but the Hurricanes dominated the second with a 17-3 advantage. The Maple Leafs went more than 16 minutes between shots but came out unscathed after Joseph kicked out his left pad to stop Kevyn Adams on a rebound and extended his stick across the goalmouth to deny Hill on another rebound. Toronto came to life as the period wound down. While killing a penalty, Roberts wristed a shot off the post with 89 seconds to go. Moments later, Irbe slid and extended his stick to stop Sundin on a shorthanded 2-on-1. "Since he was getting close to the net, I tried to take away the short side by stacking the pads, and he was coming across," Irbe said. "Luckily, we have done it a thousand times in practice, those short, close, tight 2-on-1s. I just took the middle away and obviously got my arm out." "I was rusty," admitted Sundin, who had not played since Game Three of the conference quarterfinals. "It's a pretty good pace when you are in the playoffs. I haven't played for a month, and the hand felt good. I didn't have any problems playing with it in any part of the game, so that's good." Carolina finally broke the scoreless tie 7:31 into the third period. Taking advantage of a sloppy line change by Toronto, Hedican got a cross-ice pass from Martin Gelinas and streaked down the left side. He froze Joseph by faking a slap shot and carried to the bottom of the faceoff circle before threading a wrist shot inside the far post. "I just jumped into the play," said Hedican, whose last playoff goal came with Vancouver in Game One of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals. "So many times, I seem to go around the net. This time, I tried to throw it at the net and I think I just squeaked it through." Toronto killed an 80-second two-man advantage, then got lucky when Erik Cole whiffed on a backhander after breaking in alone on Joseph with 4:38 to play. "It's a tough loss, for sure," Maple Leafs winger Jonas Hoglund said. "We're in a pretty good situation, though, because we did pick up a win here and battled back in regulation, scoring with seven seconds left. We created some good scoring chances in overtime, but it was just their turn tonight." |
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