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Liles' two goals lift Avalanche past Maple Leafs

Oct 19, 2006 - 2:36 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- John-Michael Liles helped the Colorado Avalanche start a road trip on a positive note.

Liles scored his first two goals of the season as the Avalanche opened a three-game road trip with a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

A defenseman, Liles scored at 15:58 of the second period to snap a 1-1 tie. The 25-year-old tallied again 6:22 into the final session to give the Avalanche a 3-1 advantage.

Liles broke the tie as he dove for a loose puck that bounced into the slot. He was able to get a stick on the puck and knock it past Leafs goaltender Andrew Raycroft.

"I dove for the puck and I was in a pile with Raycroft, it was just one of those things, it just trickled in somehow," Liles said.

Peter Budaj made 27 saves for the Avalanche, who avoided their third straight loss. The netminder was making just his second start of the season.

"I've played in this rink before but not in an NHL game," Budaj said. "I was very excited to play. I was very happy. It's a good feeling to beat the Leafs. I haven't beat a Canadian team before so I'm excited about that.

"It's a good way to start a road trip. I don't look at my stats. I try to help my team win games and we needed it, we lost two games in a row so that was a big win for us and hopefully we'll get a winning streak going now."

Bates Battaglia scored in the opening period for the Maple Leafs, who had a pair of goals disallowed.

"After the four-minute mark they skated, they skated well, they were stronger on the puck, beat us down low, and we had a very difficult time moving the puck," Leafs coach Paul Maurice said.

Raycroft stopped 22 shots for Toronto, which failed in its bid to put together consecutive wins for the first time this season.

The Leafs were 0-for-4 on the power play, falling to 5-for-35 on the season.