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February 28, 2003
DETROIT (AP) -- It was a big game for Curtis Joseph. His teammates joined in on the fun.
Particularly Brett Hull, who had had two goals and an assist and surpassed 1,300 career points as the Detroit Red Wings routed the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-2 Thursday night.
It was the first time that Curtis Joseph, who made 27 saves, played against his former team. He signed with the Red Wings as a free agent in July after playing with Toronto for four seasons.
``There's anticipation when you play your former team,'' said Joseph. ``Some emotion. You just have to keep that in check.''
Backup goaltender Manny Legace played in Detroit's 2-1 victory in Toronto on Nov. 16.
The Red Wings won their seventh game in the last eight (7-0-0-1), while the Maple Leafs lost for only the third time in 14 games (11-3-0-0) and had their seven-game road winning streak snapped.
Henrik Zetterberg also scored twice for Detroit. Darren McCarty and Kris Draper each had a goal and an assist, Dmitri Bykov got the other goal and Steve Yzerman added two assists, the first two points for Yzerman since he returned from knee surgery.
Robert Reichel and Gary Roberts got the Toronto goals.
``We flat stunk,'' said Toronto coach Pat Quinn.
The Red Wings scored twice late in the first period within eight seconds to take a 2-0 lead.
Zetterberg opened the scoring when he took a pass from Hull, cut across the slot, waited for Ed Belfour to go down and put a forehand shot over him.
That made Hull the 23rd player in NHL history to amass 1,300 points.
Off the ensuing faceoff, after two passes, McCarty put a wrist shot over Belfour's stick side.
Reichel put Toronto on the board with 3:06 left when his wrist shot from the slot beat Joseph, who was inadvertently screened by Yzerman.
Hull then scored with just 1.7 seconds left in the period when, right off a faceoff in the Toronto zone, Pavel Datsyuk kicked the puck back to Hull. He one-timed a wrist shot that hit Belfour and trickled over the goal line.
``A couple of pucks went off the post for Curtis and a couple went for us,'' said Detroit coach Dave Lewis.
Zetterberg scored his second goal of the game in the second period when he tipped in a cross-crease pass from Yzerman.
Hull got his second goal of the game on the power play with just 16.7 seconds left in the second period with a slap shot from the slot.
Toronto's top line of center Mats Sundin (minus-5), Roberts (minus-5) and Alexander Mogilny (minus-3) was a combined minus-13. ``Our line had a nightmare night,'' said Sundin. ``We certainly made all the mistakes we possibly could.''
^Notes: McCarty returned to the Red Wings after missing nine games with a staph infection in his elbow....The Red Wings lead the all-time series with Toronto 273-270-93-2. ... Toronto's Robert Svehla is the league's current ironman. He's played in 364 consecutive games. ... Zetterberg had his first two-goal game in the NHL. ... Mogilny extended his point streak to seven games (3-9-12), but Sundin's six-game streak came to an end. Sundin needs two more points for 1,000 in his career. ... Detroit's Sergei Fedorov extended his points streak to nine games (4-11-15).
Updated on Friday, Feb 28, 2003 12:07 am, EST
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