• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Antropov's late goal sends Maple Leafs to victory

Oct 19, 2007 - 3:39 AM By Jeff Lieberman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

TORONTO (Ticker) -- The Toronto Maple Leafs overcame a two-goal, first-period deficit and took advantage of a late offensive breakdown by the Florida Panthers to post a 3-2 victory on Thursday.

Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester made an impressive move to free himself but blew an easy opportunity to slide a wrist shot under the stick of goaltender Vesa Toskala with just under a minute remaining in the third period.

"There was a kind of fight or something and everybody stopped except Jay," Toronto's Nik Antropov said. "Luck was on our side and he just missed the post by inches."

It did not take long for Toronto to take advantage of the miscue.

Tomas Kaberle took control of the loose puck, skated up the ice and fed fellow defenseman Pavel Kubina, who fired a slap shot from the right faceoff circle that ricocheted off the pads of netminder Craig Anderson. The puck found the stick of Antropov, who exploited Anderson's overplay on Kubina's shot with 28 seconds remaining to score his sixth goal of the season.

"It's huge," Antropov said. "I thought we played a good game, except the first 10 minutes of the first period. We played great defensively. That's what we were looking for tonight, and we did it. Luck was on our side at the end when we got the goal. It was a good game for us."

"That's hockey," Toronto captain Mats Sundin said. "Most game-winning goals come from a rush when the other team had a chance first, so it was our turn to get the goal."

Antropov's goal was his second point of the contest and helped Toronto secure its third win in six tries this season, despite the fact it has held the lead at some point in every game thus far.

"(The win) was really important," Toskala said. "We've been through a couple of tough losses. It was a good way to bounce back, especially (since) we came back from two goals."

Nathan Horton notched a pair of assists to help the Panthers jump out to an early 2-0 lead midway through the first period.

Rostislav Olesz converted on a pretty passing play on the power play for the game's first tally. Horton, who was positioned in the left circle, worked the puck to Stephen Weiss before it got to Olesz, who buried it from the slot at 5:59 for a 1-0 advantage.

David Booth doubled the lead less than four minutes later, as Horton started the Panthers' offense again. The 22-year-old center passed to Bouwmeester, who used his 6-4, 212-pound frame to outmuscle a defender on the right side of the net before finding Booth in the slot for an easy snap shot that beat Toskala.

Toronto began mounting its comeback with a goal 24 seconds into the second period by Jason Blake. Sundin fired a blast from the left circle that caromed off the crossbar and deflected to Blake, who was able to deposit the puck into a vacant net.

"Sometimes it's better to come from behind to win than win 6-1," Sundin said. "You learn, and it builds character knowing that even when you're down a couple of goals, you can still win the game."

For Blake, who was a 40-goal scorer last season, it was only his second of 2007-08.

At 6:49 of the middle session, beleaguered defenseman Bryan McCabe tied the game on the power play. With time running out on a two-man advantage, McCabe took a snap shot from the high slot that found the top right portion of the net.

McCabe has been lambasted in Toronto after shooting the puck into his own net in overtime of the Maple Leafs' loss to Buffalo on Monday.

Panthers captain Olli Jokinen played in his team-record 301st consecutive game, passing Robert Svehla on the franchise list.