Toronto 2 @ Edmonton 1

The Leafs rolled into Edmonton after splitting a home-and-home series against the Montreal Canadiens to face the league-leading Oilers. Andrew Raycroft got the nod in goal for Toronto, to face the vaunted speed and skill of the Oil. Dwayne Roloson got the start in goal for Edmonton.

The Leafs jumped out to a quick start, with Mats Sundin wristing one past Roloson's glove hand to make it 1-0 before the game was 5 minutes old. Michael Peca quickly made it 2-0, firing a quick shot from the side boards that surprised Roloson and again beat him on the glove side.



The Leafs flexed their defensive muscles for the first 40 minutes, keeping the Oilers to 10 shots through 2 periods. Although the Oilers couldn't get many shots on net, many of them were quality chances, forcing Raycroft to continue his brilliant play this season.

Coach MacTavish must have said something meaningful to his squad in the 2nd intermission, as the Oil came out as a team on a mission from the drop of the puck in the third, blitzing Raycroft and finding holes in the vaunted Leaf D to get good chances. As usual, Raycroft performed superbly, denying Pisani and Ryan Smyth on point blank opportunities. With about 5 minutes left in the 3rd, Ales Hemsky finally found a way to solve Raycroft, putting a bank shot off his pads and into the net to cut the Leaf lead to 2-1. The Leafs tightened up after that goal and started taking the play to Edmonton again, and they held on for a 2-1 road victory. The victory improved the Leafs' GUGHL record to 5-1

Leaf notes - the Hemsky goal in the third was only the 2nd given up by Raycroft this season, the first was by the Canadiens' Dandenault in the 1-0 loss at home vs. Montreal...Mats Sundin scored his team-leading 4th goal of the year...The Leafs had a decided faceoff advantage, winning 20 and only losing 3.

SHOTS

Toronto 18
Edmonton 17

HITS

Toronto 40
Edmonton 36

3 STARS

1) Mats Sundin TOR 1G
2) Ales Hemsky EDM 1G
3) Michael Peca TOR 1G