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March 1, 2003
TORONTO (AP) -- Shayne Corson wanted to make sure his return to the Toronto lineup wasn't short-lived.
He went a long way toward doing that with a goal and an assist Saturday night in the Maple Leafs' 4-1 victory over Carolina.
``It sure was nice to score,'' said Corson, a healthy scratch for seven straight games. ``I wanted to come back and have a good game. But the most satisfying thing for me was that I came back and we won the game with me in the lineup.''
As it turns out, Corson doesn't need to worry about playing Monday night against Florida because winger Tom Fitzgerald left Saturday's game with a knee injury. He's out 7-to-10 days.
``Things went pretty good tonight,'' Corson said. ``I know what I can do. I've played in All-Star games and the 1991 Canada Cup. And I've never felt better physically.''
Leafs coach Pat Quinn said he didn't decide until game time to insert Corson and sit out Jonas Hoglund.
``It was time for Shayne to come back in,'' Quinn said. ``He can help us. I'm glad for him tonight. But it's never an easy choice.''
No offense to Corson, whose goal was a one-timer with the goalie out of position, but Alex Mogilny's highlight-reel goal in the second period was the one to remember on this night.
Mogilny gave Toronto a 2-1 lead with a beauty at 10:08 of the second, bursting into the zone and deking out forward Ryan Bayda, who was the last man back, before slipping a backhand between Arturs Irbe's legs. It was the lone moment of brilliance in a game that provided very little entertainment for the 19,362 at the Air Canada Centre.
The fact that Bayda as a forward was an easier target to try out his fancy deke never crossed Mogilny's mind.
``I didn't know who it was. I didn't look at his face,'' Mogilny said. ``Just one more guy to get around.''
Darcy Tucker and Bryan McCabe also scored for the Leafs (37-23-4-1), who didn't need anything close to their `A' game to beat the disinterested Hurricanes.
Josef Vasicek replied for last-place Carolina, which has won only three of its past 30 games (3-19-4-3).
The injury-riddled Hurricanes, missing six regulars, barely threatened throughout the game, content to dump the puck in on most rushes and hope for a Toronto mistake -- of which there were very few.
``We had a couple of young guys who got burned for goals tonight,'' said Carolina coach Paul Maurice, no doubt referring to Bayda. ``Hopefully they'll learn from that.''
It was a battle of the backups -- Irbe, recently recalled from Lowell of the AHL as he waits to be traded, started in place of Kevin Weekes (sore blocker hand) while Trevor Kidd gave No. 1 man Ed Belfour a break in Toronto's net and picked up his sixth win of the season.
``Ed needs a rest going down the stretch and it's my job to go in there and make sure we don't take a step backward,'' said Kidd, who also won last Saturday at Montreal.
In the aftermath of Toronto's 7-2 loss in Detroit on Thursday, Quinn shuffled his top two lines, putting Mats Sundin and Gary Roberts with Mikael Renberg on the No. 1 unit, followed by Nikolai Antropov with Mogilny and Corson.
Corson re-directed a Tie Domi pass into an empty net with Irbe overplaying Domi on a 2-on-1 break and the relief could be read in Corson's face. The goal at 11:44 of the third period was his fifth goal of the season.
Tucker gave Toronto insurance 3:53 in the third period, picking up a loose puck off the boards behind the net and flipping a shot over a diving Irbe.
McCabe scored only his third goal of the season to tie it 1-1 just over a minute into the second period, his slap shot beating Irbe top corner during a power play. McCabe, who was horrible in the loss at Detroit, had a strong game Saturday and hit every red jersey in sight. He was named the game's first star.
Vasicek opened the scoring during a 5-on-3 power play midway through the first period, his shot from the side of the net bouncing off Toronto's JyrkiLumme and past Kidd. Notes Joining Hoglund as healthy scratches were fellow forward Paul Healey and defenseman Ric Jackman ... Hurricanes captain Ron Francis turned 40 Saturday. He's among the five NHLers 40 or older along with Mark Messier (42), Igor Larionov (42), Chris Chelios (40) and Adam Oates (40) ... The Hurricanes were missing forwards Rod Brind'Amour (broken wrist), Erik Cole (broken leg) Jaroslav Svoboda (back), Pavel Brendl (knee surgery), Jesse Boulerice(concussion) and Jeff Heerema (broken wrist).
Updated on Saturday, Mar 1, 2003 11:07 pm, EST
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