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Kilger, Tucker lead Maple Leafs in rout of Senators

Oct 6, 2006 - 1:57 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- Chad Kilger and Darcy Tucker would not allow the Toronto Maple Leafs to lose to the Ottawa Senators two nights in a row.

Kilger and Tucker scored two goals apiece and Andrew Raycroft made 34 saves as the Maple Leafs posted a 6-0 victory over the Senators in the second game of a season-opening home-and-home series.

Ottawa defeated Toronto on Opening Night on Wednesday as Patrick Eaves recorded a goal and an assist in the 4-1 triumph. On Thursday, however, the Maple Leafs provided all the offense.

"Kilger's (first) goal had a huge impact on the bench," said Toronto's Paul Maurice, who is in his first season behind the Maple Leafs' bench. "When Tucker got the second goal, it made us realize we could score. The effort wasn't different from last night, but the confidence came after the second goal.

"Individual efforts were there, like (the one from) Tucker, who played a hard game. He got a little bit of edge to his game, and that's what got everybody going. I'm glad we got a good result here today so we can keep building on what we're doing."

Kilger started the scoring with a shorthanded goal with 8:57 remaining in the first period. With goaltender Martin Gerber out of position, he scored his second tally from the doorstep to give Ottawa a 3-0 advantage at 5:42 of the second.

"It was nice for us to get out to a lead early, so we could relax," Kilger said. "Ottawa definitely had our number last year, so it was nice for us to respond, especially since we're going to face them six more times this year."

Tucker tallied on the power play with 5:52 remaining in the opening session to give the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead. He added another man-advantage goal midway through the middle period, burying a rebound while being knocked to the ice for a 4-0 bulge.

"Our main focus in the dressing room is to come to play, and when we're out there, to play hard," Tucker said. "We can't worry about what people say about us, we just have to worry about doing what the coaching staff wants. We have to look to improve as an organization and to improve individually."

The performances by Kilger and Tucker provided more than enough support for Raycroft, who rebounded from Wednesday's loss to post his fourth career shutout. The former Calder Trophy winner stopped seven shots in the first period, 19 in the second and eight in the third en route to his first blanking since 2003-04.

"It's nice to get the shutout, but it's huge to come in here and get six goals," Raycroft said. "Not a lot of teams do that here, so it's nice to see and it will give the guys that confidence."

Alexei Ponikarovsky also tallied, Bates Battaglia scored his first goal since 2003-04 and Kyle Wellwood recorded a career-high four assists for Toronto, which defeated Ottawa for just the second time in the last 10 meetings.

The Senators had not lost by at least four goals at home since April 8, when Buffalo posted a 6-2 victory at Scotiabank Place.