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Gerber stars in debut with Maple Leafs

Mar 6, 2009 - 4:13 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Martin Gerber made 37 saves in his first game with the new team on Thursday, pacing the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals.

Lee Stempniak and defenseman Pavel Kubina scored third-period goals 3:42 apart as Toronto won for the fifth time in six games.

Gerber, who lost his starting job in Ottawa earlier this season, was claimed off re-entry waivers Wednesday and made an instant impact with the Maple Leafs.

"It was emotional - going through waivers once before and not being picked up - I thought, 'That's probably going to be it,'" Gerber said. "I talked with my family, 'That might be it for us over here.' And finding out, well, some other team wants you to play, that's a great feeling.

"I was a bit nervous. It was emotional to come back and play. I tried to keep it simple and play, and the guys did a great job to bounce bodies away from the net."

The Swiss netminder came 39 seconds away from his second shutout of the season and 11th of his career, but Alexander Semin scored with the Washington net empty, slicing the deficit in half.

"Martin was unbelievable, but I've seen him play plenty of games like that," Toronto coach Ron Wilson said. "He was a little lucky, but the defense did a good job in front of him clearing rebounds. I'm just sad he didn't get the shutout."

The loss continued a disastrous homestand for the Capitals, who have lost the first three games of a four-game stint at the Verizon Center.

"They're holding their sticks really tight and not doing things that are natural to them, and consequently we're not scoring," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said.

This one came without superstar Alex Ovechkin. The reigning Hart Trophy winner suffered a bruised heel when he was hit by a shot off the stick of coach Dean Evason in practice Wednesday and is listed as day-to-day.

"He's a big difference-maker," Boudreau said. "You can see on the power play already, just the attention people pay to Alex, it opens up other things, and they weren't paying that attention they normally do."

Stempniak put Toronto ahead when he banked a shot off the right skate of Washington goalie Jose Theodore 6:05 into the third.

Theodore, who missed Tuesday's 5-2 loss to Carolina with the flu, stopped 27 shots.