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Maple Leafs Smack Canadiens, 6-3

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The Associated Press

Published: November 9, 2008

TORONTO - Niklas Hagman scored twice and linemate Mikhail Grabovski had a goal and an assist to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 6-3 victory against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

Grabovski has six goals and two assists in the last four games, teaming up with Hagman and Nikolai Kulemin to form a nice line for the Maple Leafs. Grabovski had three goals in 27 career games with Montreal during the last two seasons and has seven in 15 for the Maple Leafs, who acquired him in a trade during the summer.

Nik Antropov, Pavel Kubina and Alexei Ponikarovsky also scored for the Maple Leafs (6-5-4), who outshot their opponent for the 11th straight game.

Robert Lang, Tomas Plekanec and Saku Koivu had Montreal's goals.

The Habs (8-2-2) were playing for the second straight night and weren't able to match the pace set by the speedy Leafs.

A scary play early in the game helped Toronto score first. Habs forward Tom Kostopoulos slammed Mike Van Ryn into the end boards from behind and was ejected with a major for boarding.

Van Ryn lay on the ice for several minutes with a cut on his forehead and didn't return.

The Maple Leafs weren't able to get much going during the ensuing five-minute power play but Hagman converted the only good scoring opportunity they had. Grabovski made a nifty move to get around defenseman Andrei Markov before feeding Hagman at the side of the net for a goal at 8:12.

The lead held until a wild second period that featured each team scoring three times.

Grabovski ripped a quick shot by former teammate Carey Price to make it 2-0 at 1:48 but was in the penalty box for goaltender interference when Lang scored three minutes later.

Plekanec's power-play goal at 9:59 tied it and drew a loud ovation from the large group of Habs fans that were among the 19,512 in attendance at Air Canada Centre.

Hagman and Koivu then traded quick goals before Antropov put the Leafs up 4-3 at 16:27. With Price out of position, Antropov took four whacks at the puck in a scrum before finally getting it past Habs defenseman Mike Komisarek.

That goal gave the Leafs a lead heading into the third period for just the fourth time in 15 games this season.

Kubina extended the advantage at 1:13 after Markov was penalized for hitting Hagman from behind.

Ponikarovsky put the game out of reach at 16:32 when he beat Price with a nice deke move.

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