• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Maple Leafs post emotional win over Devils

Mar 3, 2007 - 6:07 AM EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- With teammate Tomas Kaberle fallen, the Toronto Maple Leafs responded with their hearts instead of their fists.

Defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo, Nik Antropov and Matt Stajan scored less than three minutes apart midway through the third period to erase a two-goal deficit and Jeff O'Neill tallied in the fifth round of the shootout as the Maple Leafs posted a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

With the Devils ahead, 2-0, Colaiacovo got the Leafs on the board with 11:25 left in the third, working a give-and-go with Alex Steen before beating goaltender Martin Brodeur for his fifth goal of the season.

Antropov tied it 2:04 later, tipping defenseman Ian White's blast from the blue line past Brodeur. Just 47 seconds thereafter, a turnover by New Jersey blue-liner Paul Martin led to a shot from the left point by Toronto's Hal Gill. Parked in front of the net, Stajan got a piece of the puck, popping it over Brodeur for a 3-2 lead.

Nothing could have given the Maple Leafs more of a lift after Kaberle, their second-leading scorer and lone All-Star this season, was forced to leave the game. With 14:51 remaining in the second period, Kaberle was knocked unconscious by a late and unpenalized hit by Devils enforcer Cam Janssen.

"We showed a lot of character coming back from 2-0 late in the game," Toronto captain Mats Sundin said. "It's nice to get the win for Tomas after what he went through."

Kaberle had completed a pass in his own zone when, nearly two seconds later, Janssen unloaded his right shoulder into the left side of the defenseman's head. Kaberle appeared to immediately be knocked out from the hit and, to make matters worse, the back of his helmet then crashed into the boards.

"I saw him down, and the next thing, I turned around and it was like convulsions," said Devils defenseman Colin White, who first scrambled to help medical staff and then the stretcher personnel get to Kaberle. "It scares anybody. You don't want to see anybody like that."

After laying unconscious for nearly three minutes, Kaberle sat up after regaining his senses. But he was placed in a neck immobilizer, strapped to a stretcher and taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was slated to be kept overnight for observation.

"If anybody knows the way (Janssen) hits, he hits late and he hits hard," said Toronto defenseman Wade Belak, who was not dressed for the game but joined fellow scratch Darcy Tucker in yelling at Janssen from the tunnel next to the New Jersey bench. "Definitely a cheap shot."

"They don't play him the rest of the night and make him accountable for what he does," Maple Leafs goaltender Andrew Raycroft said. "You can't let those guys take liberties on the best players on the ice. It's unacceptable."

A visibly shaken Janssen gave his account.

"I finished my hit," he said. "It gives you a weird feeling in your stomach after you see somebody down like that. You never want to see that. But I have to do my job. I've got to take the body, and I did. I thought it was a clean hit. (He) just hit the boards the wrong way. It's a scary thing.

"It definitely rattled me. The way guys in my position play, it's bound to happen. I've gotten knocked silly plenty of times. You hit your head the wrong way and you're going to go down, period."

Toronto was unable to hold the lead. With the Devils on a power play and Brodeur pulled for an extra attacker, John Madden intercepted a poor clearing attempt by defenseman Bryan McCabe in the offensive zone and unleashed a shot from the slot that hit a body in front. With Raycroft unaware of the location of the puck, Sergei Brylin swooped in and fired it into a vacant right side of the net from the low slot with 69 seconds left in the third, forging a 3-3 tie.

After a scoreless overtime, New Jersey carried a 1-0 edge into the third round of the shootout. But the newly acquired Yanic Perreault scored on a spectacular move to pull the Maple Leafs even and O'Neill beat Brodeur high to the glove side with a wrist shot in the fifth round to put Toronto in front.

With another chance to knot the contest, Brylin was unsuccessful as Raycroft lunged forward and poked away the puck to seal the win for the Maple Leafs (31-25-9), who had lost four of their previous five games and moved within two points of the eighth and final playoff position in the Eastern Conference.

Jamie Langenbrunner and Jay Pandolfo scored for New Jersey, which lost for just the second time in seven contests.

"We lost our composure," Langenbrunner said. "We were a little rattled and didn't play the third period the way we were capable. They got the two points. That's the revenge they wanted to get."