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White helps Maple Leafs snap five-game skid

Jan 16, 2008 - 4:05 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Ian White scored the eventual game-winning goal with under 12 minutes remaining in the third period as the Toronto Maple Leafs snapped a five-game losing streak with a 5-4 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

After Alexei Ponikarovsky gave Toronto a 4-3 lead five minutes into the third period, White scored three minutes later to give the Maple Leafs a lead they would not relinquish.

White snapped a 14-game goalless drought and provided some insurance as he scored from the right faceoff circle to give the Maple Leafs a two-goal advantage with 11:40 to play.

White's shot from the circle beat a screened Cam Ward between the pads.

"It is a relief," White said. "It's nice to get the win, but we've still got a long way to go."

Rod Brind'Amour scored with nine seconds left to halve the deficit, but the Hurricanes couldn't net the tying goal.

Vesa Toskala stopped 21 shots for Toronto, which picked up its first win since New Year's Day.

"It's a huge two points for us. We want to get back in the playoff race," Toskala said.

Carolina tied the game at 3-3 as Andrew Ladd put back his own miss into the top left corner just 1:54 into the third period.

"We were down, 3-2, heading into the third period and we hadn't even shown them our best hockey," Carolina's Erik Cole said. "It was a big goal by Andrew to start the third period for us."

However, Ponikarovsky banged a rebound between Ward's pads from the right side to give Toronto a 4-3 lead. Ward had just replaced Michael Leighton, who stopped 20 shots, at the start of the third.

"I got in front of the goalie and I saw the puck went up in the air and it was coming down," Ponikarovsky said. "I just batted it like a baseball - the goalie wasn't ready, he didn't expect that."

After a silent first period, it was a wild back-and-forth contest.

Toronto took a 3-2 lead during a five-goal second period thanks to a fortuitous bounce. Matt Stajan poked in a puck that bounced off the boards past an out-of-position Leighton for a power-play tally with 1:05 left in the second.

Cole, whose turnover resulted in the Maple Leafs taking a 2-1 lead earlier in the period, quickly atoned for his miscue. The 29-year-old scored after faking Toskala to the ice and sending the puck into the net with seven minutes left in the second.

That goal made up for his turnover that led to Chad Kilger giving the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead.

Cole turned the puck over at the blue line, and Toronto capitalized as White fed Kilger and beat Leighton with a backhand at 9:16 of the second.

Toronto's Tomas Kaberle opened the scoring with a power-play tally 3:51 into the second, and Carolina answered as Sergei Samsonov leveled the game four minutes later.

Ward stopped 11 shots for Carolina, which has lost three straight.

"We've been letting in goals as a group - we need to get better if we give up four or five a game, we're not going to win," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said.