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Kaberle, Blake help Maple Leafs storm past Hurricanes

Jan 16, 2009 - 5:15 AM RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Jason Blake recorded a hat trick, but it was All-Star defenseman Tomas Kaberle that helped the Toronto Maple Leafs forget about squandering a four-goal lead.

Kaberle's power-play goal with 5:25 remaining in the third period snapped a tie as the Maple Leafs halted a four-game losing streak with a 6-4 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.

"It was an up-and-down, crazy game," Kaberle said. "It must have been entertaining for the fans, but we're happy we came out with the win. We needed it. I thought we had a good start."

Blake also recorded two assists and Jiri Tlusty set up all three of his 35-year-old teammate's goals for the Maple Leafs, who held a 4-0 edge with less than five minutes to play in the middle session.

Blue-liner Ian White and Niklas Hagman also tallied, Kaberle added an assist and Vesa Toskala made 28 saves for Toronto, which had gone 2-8-0 over its previous 10 contests.

All-Star Eric Staal and Scott Walker each notched a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes, who have been outscored by a 20-8 margin during their current four-game slide.

"We came out in the third with the right intentions and scored some goals to get close and tie it up," Staal said. "It was a good third period, but in the end, it doesn't matter because we didn't get the win."

Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice, who was behind Toronto's bench last season, was highly disappointed with his current team's effort over the first 40 minutes.

"I was pleased with the way we responded but not very pleased that we had to respond to that matter," Maurice said. "The third period is our game that we should try to regularly play."

Matt Cullen and Tuomo Ruutu also scored and Cam Ward turned aside 18 shots for Carolina.

"We were trying harder (in the third)," Ruutu said. "We were more desperate. We were pretending that we were playing hard like in the last couple of games."

After Hurricanes defenseman Tim Gleason was whistled for high-sticking, Kaberle took a cross-ice feed from fellow blue-liner Pavel Kubina and unleashed a one-timer from the top of the left faceoff circle.

It appeared to be an easy save for Ward, but the puck bounced off the goaltender's glove and into the net. Blake then added an empty-netter with 11 seconds left to seal the win and complete his sixth career hat trick.

"Well, it's not easy to score in this league," Blake said. "In this league, to score, you've got to go to the net. It's not fun because you're going to get whacked a few times."

Blake helped Toronto build its four-goal advantage, setting up White's power-play goal with 7:17 left in the opening session. He also netted a pair of tallies in the second.

Blake converted a wraparound at 1:40 for his first of the night. After Hagman scored with 9:55 remaining, Blake made it 4-0, collecting the puck following Dominic Moore's errant shot and deking Ward before depositing it into the net.

It took the Hurricanes just over 10 minutes of game time to erase the deficit. Cullen started the comeback, getting Carolina on the scoreboard with 89 seconds left in the second period.

"We got lazy and we took some penalties," Blake said of allowing the comeback. "They've got a lot of offensive skill over there, and they took advantage of it."

Ruutu scored just 81 seconds into the third and Staal capitalized on a two-man advantage at 4:33 to make it 4-3. Walker tied the contest at 8:40, poking in a rebound for his third goal of the season.