less than seven minutes left in the third period, leading the San Jose
Sharks to a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night.
Dan Boyle and Joe Pavelski also had
goals for the Sharks, who sent Jean-Sebastien Giguere to his first loss
since being acquired from Anaheim on Jan. 31. Giguere had posted
consecutive shutouts in his first two games with San Jose.
Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel scored for
the Maple Leafs, who nearly tied it with a flourish in the final minute
of regulation.
Evgeni Nabokov made 32 saves for San
Jose, which has won eight straight road games.
Toronto struck first when Bozak
converted a nifty feed from Kessel to beat Nabokov midway through the
first period.
San Jose finally broke through in the
second period with goals by Boyle and Pavelski.
Kessel tied it for Toronto with a
power-play goal in the final minute of the second period, on a play set
up by defenseman Tomas Kaberle, who earned the 400th assist of his
career.
Toronto had to scramble to fill out
its roster before the game with word that two regular forwards —
Christian Hanson and Fredrik Sjostrom — were ill. Nazem Kadri, the Maple
Leafs' 19-year-old first-round draft pick, arrived in Toronto on an
emergency basis after notching 26 goals and 66 points in 42 games with
the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League.
Kadri, selected seventh overall last
spring, made his NHL debut on the first shift of the game, facing off
against Joe Thornton. Kadri took a regular shift through the first two
periods, heading into the second intermission with more than 10 minutes
of NHL ice time under his belt.
Notes
Bobby Orr watched Toronto's
pregame morning skate from the top row of the corner gold seats at the
Air Canada Centre. The retired star tried to maintain a low profile,
though he did pose for a few pictures with admirers … The Leafs will
begin their two-week Olympic break after Friday's game in St. Louis.