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Kobasew helps Bruins rally past Maple Leafs

Nov 21, 2007 - 4:19 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Chuck Kobasew and the Boston Bruins made it a successful debut for goaltender Tuukka Rask.

Kobasew scored twice in the third period as the Bruins rallied to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2, on Tuesday.

P.J. Axelsson tied the contest with his first goal of the season and Phil Kessel tallied just before the end of the second period for Boston, which saw Rask earn his first win against the team that originally drafted him.

Rask, who was selected in the first round by Toronto in the 2005 draft, stopped 30 shots, including 10 in the final period, as the Bruins made their comeback.

"I showed them I'm good enough to play at this level," said Rask, who was traded to Boston on June 24, 2006, for veteran goalie Andrew Raycroft.

With Boston trailing, 2-1, midway through the final session, Marc Savard skated in toward the Toronto goal before dropping a pass to Axelsson, who lifted the puck past netminder Vesa Toskala to knot the contest at 2-2.

"It was a great pass from Savvy," Axelsson said. "All I had to do was slap it in."

Kobasew then took over. The right wing blasted a shot from the left faceoff dot that went short side between Toskala's arm and body to give the Bruins their first lead with 3:31 remaining.

"It was a weird play as the puck stayed along the boards," Kobasew said. "It came off along the wall, and I just took a step and shot it."

Kobasew's ninth goal of the season came with 27 seconds remaining, when he shot into an empty net with Maple Leafs blue-liner Bryan McCabe defending.

"I think we came out soft in the third and tried to protect the lead," Maple Leafs center Nik Antropov said. "We didn't play our best and paid for it with this loss."

Kessel halved Boston's deficit with a tally with just 38 seconds left in the middle period.

"That goal helped us," Kessel said. "It gave us a little momentum coming into the last period and we played well."

It was enough for Rask, who also made 12 saves in the first and eight in the second for the Bruins, who ended a four-game road losing streak.

McCabe and Mats Sundin scored and Toskala made 21 saves for the Maple Leafs, who have lost three of four.

"We were up two goals and let Boston back in," Sundin said. "Certainly it's a disappointing way to end a very important game for us."