Tuomo Ruutu and Jussi Jokinen scored in the shootout, and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied from three goals down to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 last night.
The latest meeting of the NHL's worst teams had a wild finish. Ian White put the Maple Leafs ahead 5-4 with 29.9 seconds remaining, but Erik Cole tapped in a rebound with 2.9 seconds left to force overtime. After an uneventful overtime, Ruutu and Jokinen beat Jonas Gustavsson with wrist shots, and Manny Legace stopped Phil Kessel and Lee Stempniak to preserve his first victory with the Hurricanes.
Tim Gleason scored twice in the third period, and Matt Cullen had a goal and an assist for Carolina. Ruutu finished with four assists for the Hurricanes in their club-record fourth straight overtime game.
"We've got tension," Coach Paul Maurice said. "We've got a lot of disappointment in there for where we're at, but they haven't splintered and they haven't quit on each other. The players still fight. The players still believe, and they compete."
Toronto 3 0 2 0--5
Carolina 0 2 3 0--6
First Period--1, Toronto, Stajan 5 (Ponikarovsky), 1:01. 2, Toronto, Stempniak 5 (Kulemin, Mitchell), 14:21. 3, Toronto, Grabovski 4 (Blake, Beauchemin), 18:26. Penalties--R.Wallin, Tor (slashing), 2:14; Rodney, Car (hooking), 4:29.
Second Period--4, Carolina, Yelle 1 (LaRose, A.Ward), 16:47. 5, Carolina, Cullen 4 (Ruutu, Jokinen), 17:30. Penalties--Alberts, Car (elbowing), :12; R.Wallin, Tor (hooking), 4:18; Mayers, Tor, major (fighting), 6:31; Kostopoulos, Car, major (fighting), 6:31; LaRose, Car (hooking), 6:46; White, Tor (hooking), 9:18.
Third Period--6, Toronto, Ponikarovsky 8 (Kaberle, Gustavsson), 3:43 (pp). 7, Carolina, Gleason 3 (Cullen, Ruutu), 8:08. 8, Carolina, Gleason 4 (Sutter, Ruutu), 11:56 (pp). 9, Toronto, White 4 (Kulemin), 19:30. 10, Carolina, Cole 2 (Ruutu, Corvo), 19:57. Penalties--White, Tor, major (fighting), 3:25; Cole, Car, served by Samsonov, minor-major (cross-checking, fighting), 3:25; White, Tor, double minor (high-sticking), 8:51; Gunnarsson, Tor (hooking), 14:19.
Shootout--Toronto 0 (Kessel NG, Stempniak NG), Carolina 2 (Ruutu G, Jokinen G). Shots on Goal--Toronto 17-4-7-4--32. Carolina 11-17-14-3--45.
Power-play opportunities--Toronto 1 of 4; Carolina 1 of 6.
Goalies--Toronto, Gustavsson 3-4-4 (45 shots-40 saves). Carolina, Legace 1-1-2 (32-27).
A--13,502.
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