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Mitchell rallies Maple Leafs past Rangers

Nov 2, 2008 - 1:59 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Rookie John Mitchell scored a pair of goals and set up another in third period as the Toronto Maple Leafs rallied for five tallies in the final session en route to a 5-2 comeback victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday.

Jason Blake, defenseman Pavel Kubina and former Ranger Dominic Moore also scored for the Maple Leafs, who netted all of their goals in a 5 1/2-minute span to erase a 2-0 deficit.

"You can't count us out," Mitchell said. "We go down 2-0, it seems like an awful lot and we come back. We're very resilient, and we try and do our best out there."

Ryan Callahan and Blair Betts tallied for the Rangers, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.

"We've had a good start to the season," New York's Markus Naslund said. "We want to learn from this."

Mitchell started the rally with 7:24 to play, cutting the deficit to 2-1 with his first career goal.

"I'm trying not to think about it," Mitchell said. "After games go by, you realize it and you want to score goals. You just have to be patient. It will come, and it came for me tonight."

Just 26 seconds after leaving the penalty box, Mitchell collected a loose puck after a scramble in front of the net and quickly wristed it over goaltender Stephen Valiquette's glove.

"What we did do a little bit better in the third period was apply a little pressure and throw a few pucks at the net," Toronto coach Ron Wilson said. "It still didn't look like anything was going to happen, and a great individual play by John Mitchell."

Blake tied the contest with 5:58 remaining and Kubina netted the game-winner 52 seconds later.

Playing in his 11th career game, Mitchell struck again with 3:54 left to seal the victory for Toronto, which has won four of its last five games.

Mitchell also collected an assist on Moore's empty-net goal with 2:03 remaining that provided the final margin.

"It was nice to put five past him really, to tell you the truth," Mitchell said of Valiquette. "He seemed like he was in that groove, feeling pretty good. We got the first one by him and the floodgates opened up."

Before the Maple Leafs' offensive outburst, Valiquette appeared to be in control against them once again. The 31-year-old netminder blanked Toronto on October 17 in his last game and had a shutout streak of 147 minutes, 38 seconds overall.

Valiquette appeared headed for his second shutout of the season and fourth career before Mitchell ignited the offensive onslaught late in the third session.

"It did (shake Valiquette), and I think it shook our team," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "We just mismanaged the puck after the first goal and allowed them to come in on us. Steve was there doing his best, but you need five skaters in front of you to help you out."

Vesa Toskala made 18 saves for the Maple Leafs.