Leafs finally get first win of season

ANAHEIM -- You could almost hear the sigh of relief all the way in the press box, more than 200 feet above and across the ice from the visitors’ bench here at the Honda Center. Not to mention from countless bleary-eyed fans watching on TV in the wee hours of the morning in southern Ontario, 3,500 kilometers away.

For the first time since Apr. 11 of this year -– when they defeated Ottawa in their 2008-09 season finale at the Air Canada Centre -- the Toronto Maple Leafs have prevailed in a National Hockey League game. A 6-3 victory over the staggering Anaheim Ducks last night finally ended the club’s longest winless streak from the start of a season, and “improved” the Leafs’ last-place record in the NHL to 1-7-1.

The Leafs and their wanton legion of followers can thank a terribly undisciplined Anaheim team for the breakthrough victory. The frustrated Ducks took an endless stream of ridiculous penalties, allowing the Blue & White to score five power play goals -- three of them with a 5-on-3 advantage. Niklas Hagman led the way with a hat-trick for Toronto, all three goals coming with the man advantage.

Veteran defenseman Tomas Kaberle had a career night with a goal and four assists.

Announced crowd at the Honda Center was 14,291 though there appeared to be many more than 3,000 empty seats.

The win coincided with rookie goalie Jonas Gustavsson’s return to the line-up after a three-week absence with a groin injury. The lanky native of Sweden was sharp when he had to be, providing his teammates with a much-needed boost between the pipes.

The overdue, modest achievement by the Leafs will be tested in Dallas on Wednesday, when the club continues its five-game road trip.

Quick power play goals by Toronto late in the first period overcame a 1-0 deficit and enabled the Leafs to take the lead in a game for the first time since their season-opening loss to Montreal, Oct. 1.

With Corey Perry and James Wisniewski in the penalty box for Anaheim -– and Toronto working with a 5-on-3 advantage –- Mikhail Grabovski one-timed Matt Stajan’s centering feed past Jonas Hiller. Just 1:16 later, with a one-man penalty edge, Hagman cleanly beat Hiller with a rising shot from the right-wing circle.

Hagman scored again with a two-man advantage at 8:40 of the second period, fooling Hiller with a quick shot from the left side of the net.

Toronto’s momentum was briefly stalled late in the middle frame when Colton Orr took a lazy hooking penalty. Forward Bobby Ryan got the Ducks back into the match with a high shot from the right side that Gustavsson got a piece of with his blocker.

Power play time after two periods was 7:48 for the Leafs, and 2:01 for Anaheim -- a clear reason why the visitors had their narrow lead.

Lee Stempniak restored the Leafs’ two-goal edge at 3:58 of the third period when he beat Hiller with a low shot between the legs. Kaberle scored Toronto's fourth powerplay goal of the night two-and-a-half minutes later on a slap shot from inside the point. Hagman added his third goal midway through the frame.

Perry scored a late goal for Anaheim.

Gustavsson preserved a scoreless draw with a sequence of alert stops early in the game, when his teammates repeatedly turned over the puck. He made a spectacular reflex save off Erik Christensen just past the six-minute mark -- stretching his right pad fully across the goal line to take away a certain goal. He robbed Perry with another eye-popping save midway through the second period.

But, his fine play couldn’t prevent the Leafs from being scored upon first once again, as in every game so far this season. The Ducks broke through on their ninth shot when forward Petteri Nokelainen took Scott Niedermayer’s pass inside the blue line and rifled the puck into the Toronto net from 50 feet. Gustavsson may have been partially screened on the play by defenseman Garnet Exelby.

Leafs’ roughneck Orr could be the subject of a league review after he pushed linesman Brian Murphy during a first-period fight with Anaheim’s George Parros. Murphy attempted to intervene toward the end of the long scuffle and Orr clearly shoved him to the ice with his right hand. The Leafs player was handed a 10-minute misconduct to go with his five-minute fighting major.

There were familiar faces to both teams all through the arena.

Sitting at the end of the Anaheim bench was back-up goalie Justin Pogge -- the Maple Leafs’ third-round pick [90th overall] in the 2004 NHL draft. After a three-year struggle in the Toronto organization, Pogge was traded to the Ducks this August for a conditional draft pick in 2011. Anaheim recalled him from Bakersfield of the East Coast Hockey League on Sunday, after veteran Jean-Sebastien Giguere aggravated a groin injury in a loss here to Columbus Saturday night.

Behind the Anaheim bench was head coach Randy Carlyle, a 1976 draft pick of the Leafs who began his playing career in Toronto during the 1976-77 season. Carlyle later won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman with Pittsburgh [in 1980-81]. Standing beside Carlyle was assistant coach Dave Farrish, who played 209 games on the Leafs’ blue line from 1979 to 1984.

In back of the visitors’ bench was Ron Wilson -- first coach in the history of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, as they were known. Wilson lasted four seasons here before he was fired after the 1996-97 campaign.

On the Toronto defense was veteran Francois Beauchemin -- a key figure on the Anaheim club that won the 2007 Stanley Cup. Following sporadic and fruitless negotiations with the Ducks, Beauchemin signed as a free agent with Toronto in July.

And, up in the visiting team’s executive box was Maple Leafs’ GM Brian Burke, who held the same post with the Ducks in their championship season. Seated next to him was Anaheim’s former goalie coach -- Francois Allaire -- also now with Toronto.