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Kaberle scores in OT to lead Maple Leafs past Penguins

Apr 1, 2007 - 5:15 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- After watching his team squander a three-goal lead, Tomas Kaberle made sure the Toronto Maple Leafs skated off with two points.

Kaberle scored his second goal of the game with 65 seconds remaining in overtime, lifting the Maple Leafs to a 5-4 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Kyle Wellwood collected three assists and Kaberle also set up a tally for Toronto (38-29-11), which remained one point behind Montreal (41-32-6) for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

"It's going to come down to the last (game), probably," Toronto goaltender Andrew Raycroft said. "We've got to hang in it. It would be nice to reel off a few more (wins) and give us some room."

"If this team makes it to the playoffs, they're going to be a force, for sure," said Pittsburgh's Gary Roberts, a former Maple Leaf. "They're big and strong, and if they get good goaltending, ... Once you get to the playoffs, anything can happen."

After Roberts forged a 1-1 tie seven minutes into the first period, Alexei Ponikarovsky sparked a three-goal outburst with 90 seconds to go in the session with his 20th of the season.

Kaberle and fellow defenseman Bryan McCabe tallied to make it 4-1 midway through the second before Maxime Talbot began Pittsburgh's comeback with 3 1/2 minutes left in the period.

Sidney Crosby drew the Penguins within 4-3 with his 36th goal and league-leading 117th point of the campaign with 4:38 remaining in the third, and defenseman Ryan Whitney scored with four seconds to go, forcing overtime.

"For them to come back and tie it was heartbreaking, especially with four seconds left," Wellwood said. "But you win the game and you play tomorrow, so you definitely don't think too much about it."

The start of the extra session was delayed as medical personnel at the Air Canada Centre attended to a collapsed fan, who was motionless as he was taken to a local hospital.

"I don't know exactly what happened, but (the fan) was successfully resuscitated and he was on his way to more care," Toronto coach Paul Maurice said. "It was such an incredible emotional roller-coaster. To fire that into the middle of what we're going through, clearly that's more important."

But with time winding down in the extra session, Wellwood won a faceoff in the left circle and pushed the puck back to the point. Defenseman Pavel Kubina passed across to Kaberle, who unleashed a quick one-timer from the right point past screened goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, giving Toronto its seventh straight home victory.

"It was just a simple play, get the shot from the point, and (Kaberle) got him five-hole," Ponikarovsky said. "(Fleury) was moving from post to post and, lucky for us, it went in."

"We were up 4-2 after the second period and then they started taking it to the net, scored twice," Kaberle said. "We knew we had a chance to score one in overtime or in penalty shots. We just had to get the other point."

Chad Kilger also scored, Darcy Tucker and captain Mats Sundin each had two assists and Raycroft made 32 saves for the Maple Leafs, who have earned at least one point in four straight (3-0-1).

The win was the 36th of the season for Raycroft, who is one shy of tying the single-season franchise record set in 2002-03 by Ed Belfour.

"Third period, our game got defensive and we relied on (Raycroft) a lot," Wellwood said. "He had to come up with the big stops."

Defenseman Sergei Gonchar and Calder Trophy candidate Evgeni Malkin recorded two assists apiece for Pittsburgh (45-23-11), which moved one point ahead of idle New Jersey (46-24-8) for first place in the Atlantic Division despite having its four-game winning streak snapped.

"We've shown character in coming back and battling hard, but you can't spot teams two-goal leads in this league," Roberts said. "We'll have to be a lot better in the playoffs and down the stretch if we want to win. ... We were fortunate to get a point."

Kilger scored his third goal in as many games 4 1/2 minutes into the game to give Toronto the lead, but Roberts tipped a slap shot by defenseman Sergei Gonchar past Raycroft at 6:54 to even it at 1-1.

Ponikarovsky put the Maple Leafs ahead late in the period, converting a cross-slot pass from Nik Antropov, and Kaberle ended an 18-game goalless drought 3:08 into the second with a slap shot from the left point.

Jocelyn Thibault stopped Alex Steen's breakaway chance with 9 1/2 minutes to go in the session, but McCabe knocked in the rebound of Sundin's one-timer from above the left circle during a power play with 8:11 remaining for a 4-1 cushion.

Fleury replaced Thibault, who made just 16 saves, and the change seemed to spark the Penguins. Talbot scored off a cross-slot pass by Michel Ouellet with 3:29 left in the second, and Crosby make a nifty play late in the third, kicking the rebound of a shot by Whitney to his stick and burying it from the doorstep to draw Pittsburgh within 4-3.

With time running out, Gonchar fed Whitney, whose one-timer from the high slot beat Raycroft, sending the game to the extra session.

"It was an unreal pass by Gonch there," Whitney said. "I was lucky enough to hit the post instead of going wide."