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Surging Maple Leafs keep winning on the road

Feb 7, 2007 - 6:46 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- The Toronto Maple Leafs keep making themselves right at home on the road.

Alex Steen and Alexei Ponikarovsky each scored a goal and Andrew Raycroft was solid in goal as the Maple Leafs continued their recent surge with a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

Steen broke a 1-1 tie with his 11th goal of the season with 1:47 to play in the second period. Ponikarovsky opened the scoring with a power-play goal for the Maple Leafs, who have won five straight overall, including the first four games of a five-game road trip.

"You can tell how much things are improving by what the players are yelling on the bench and not depending as much for the coaches to say," Toronto coach Paul Maurice said. "But, it still seems to be a coincidence that our best play is happening when we're on the road, and likewise after we had played some of our worst hockey during a stretch at home."

Toronto also has won eight of nine on the road and remained ninth in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Carolina for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Raycroft made 19 saves, including a couple of diving stops in the third period, to preserve the win.

His best save came at the four-minute mark of the final period when he dove to his left to make a glove save on a shot by Bill Guerin that seemed certain to find the back of what looked like a wide open net.

"Sometimes you just try to have a little poise and bear down on ones like that because they almost seem too easy," Guerin said. "I got great wood on it. It's unfortunate, because, that would have been a big goal for us."

"He double-clutched and I got a chance to dive across," Raycroft said. "A couple of times a year you get lucky on a play like that."

Ryan Johnson scored for the Blues midway through the second period to tie the game.

"You need to acknowledge your opponent and they are a solid defensive team," Blues coach Andy Murray said.

St. Louis now has lost four of its last five games following a stretch where it won six of seven.