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Hagman leads Maple Leafs to wild win over Devils

Oct 30, 2008 - 4:11 AM NEWARK, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Martin Brodeur faced a record number of shots prior to the shootout. But it was a sneaky one by Niklas Hagman that got the Toronto Maple Leafs a victory.

Hagman scored the decisive goal in the fourth round of the shootout Wednesday, leading the Maple Leafs to a 6-5 triumph over the New Jersey Devils.

Matt Stajan tallied twice in regulation while Alex Steen, Jamal Mayers and Alexei Ponikarovsky also scored for the Maple Leafs, who went 3-for-4 on the power play.

"It was a crazy game tonight," Toronto defenseman Tomas Kaberle said. "We bounced back, played hard. We scored three on the power play, which is big for us. Overall, I thought they deserved the two points."

"It's shooting the puck, finding the right guys, spreading it around," said Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson, whose team has scored eight man-advantage goals in its last four games. "We don't always use the same people. Keep it fresh so it's a little bit more competitive and maybe guys won't think they're automatically going to go on the ice on the power play."

David Clarkson, Dainius Zubrus, captain Jamie Langenbrunner and defenseman Colin White netted goals and blue-liner Andy Greene collected three assists for New Jersey, which has lost three in a row (0-1-2).

"We didn't come out after the first (period) ready to play," Greene said. "They took it to us, and in the second, they kind of controlled the game from there. We got back in it late and obviously couldn't seal it. ... We didn't play well the whole game and we still had a chance at the end to come out with two points. We just got outworked tonight, and we've got to learn from it."

"They outplayed us a bit," Brodeur said. "We got a point out of it. It is what it is. We'll work on whatever we need to work on."

Brodeur faced a career-high 48 shots prior to the shootout, one more than the Florida Panthers recorded against him on April 10, 1994.

"We generated a lot of chances, and getting five goals on Marty Brodeur, that should be pretty mind-lifting," Hagman said. "We knew that if we want to score goals, you have to shoot a lot of pucks. We tried to throw everything at the net."

A four-time Vezina Trophy winner, Brodeur turned aside 43 shots in regulation but did not face any in overtime as the Devils recorded six - including five during a full two-minute power play - but were unable to get one past Vesa Toskala.

Patrik Elias gave New Jersey the edge in the second round of the shootout, but Kaberle slid the puck between the pads of Brodeur in the third round to even things. After Toskala denied Brian Gionta's wrist shot, Hagman had the chance to put Toronto ahead.

Halfway down the ice, Hagman moved the puck to his backhand and carried it in before stuffing it past a shocked Brodeur.

"He took a pretty good shot," Brodeur said. "It was on his backhand and he just kind of waited me out and he shot it through me. It was pretty hard."

"That's got to be one of my favorite penalty-shot goals I've seen," Stajan said.

As a result of the move, Hagman sprayed ice on Brodeur's mask, something he insisted was unintentional.

"I didn't try to put snow on his face. That's why I felt a little bad," Hagman said. "I didn't want to celebrate it too much and be cocky. He gave me the look and I decided to just skate back to the bench."

Toskala made it stand, stopping Langenbrunner's wrister to secure the win for the Maple Leafs, who improved to 3-1-1 on the road.

New Jersey, which swept the four-game season series in 2007-08, appeared on its way to winning this one as Clarkson and Zubrus scored within a span of 4 minutes, 32 seconds early in the opening period. But Toronto stormed back with three goals in less than 3 1/2 minutes in the first half of the second session to move ahead.

After getting the Maple Leafs on the board at 4:13, Stajan forged a 2-2 tie 78 seconds later with a power-play goal. Kaberle unleashed a rising shot from above the slot, and Stajan deflected it into the net from the doorstep for his second of the night.

"We want to keep it simple, especially in their zone," Kaberle said. "Some of the shots are not perfect. You never know what happens when you take it to the net. We get a couple of bodies in there, you get bad rebounds and it counts, too."

The Devils argued Stajan's stick was above the crossbar, but after video review, the goal stood.

Steen put Toronto in front at 7:31, when he tipped John Mitchell's pass past Brodeur during a man advantage.

New Jersey regained the lead before the period ended, however, as Langenbrunner beat Toskala with a wrister from the top of the right faceoff circle at 9:14 and White fired a slap shot from the right point past the Finnish goaltender with 6:18 remaining.

Mayers knotted the contest at 9:15 of the third, poking in a loose puck from the doorstep, and Ponikarovsky beat Brodeur with a wrister from the left circle during a power play with 9:35 left, giving the Maple Leafs a 5-4 edge.

But Parise extended his goal-scoring streak to five games and earned New Jersey a point by burying the rebound of defenseman Paul Martin's slapper with 8:43 to go for a 5-5 tie.

Toskala turned aside 26 shots for Toronto.

"(Goaltending coach) Corey Hirsch gave him a game plan and he just practiced it and said he felt comfortable," Wilson said of Toskala. "I'm glad that he was rewarded with a win in spite of a tough night."