Sundin lifts Leafs with late goal
TORONTO -- Mats Sundin scored with 29.2 seconds left to give Toronto a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night, a day after the Maple Leafs fired general manager John Ferguson and replaced him on an interim basis with Cliff Fletcher.
Chad Kilger and Alex Steen also scored for Toronto, and Vesa Toskala made 30 saves.
Alexander Ovechkin got his league-best 39th goal, Alexander Semin also scored, and Olaf Kolzig made 21 saves for Washington.
Sundin's 21st goal of the season tied him with Maurice Richard (544) for 24th on the career list. The 37-year-old Swede swept a rebound under a sprawling Kolzig to avoid overtime.
The Leafs lost left wing Alexei Ponikarovsky when he hurt his right shoulder against the end boards on a hit from behind by Steve Eminger in the 12th minute.
Toronto won for the fourth time in five games and moved into a tie with idle Florida for 12th place in the Eastern Conference with 48 points.
Washington had won four in a row and eight of 10.
Kilger opened the scoring at 7:12 when he deflected in Anton Stralman's pass from the blueline for his ninth goal of the season.
Ovechkin tied it 2:27 into the second period when he pounced on a loose puck in the middle of Toronto's zone and fired a wrist shot into a top corner of the net so quickly that Toskala looked frozen.
Steen put Toronto up 2-1 with 1:16 left in the second. Sundin darted out from behind the net and sent a cross-crease pass to an onrushing Nik Antropov, who missed the puck and went flying. Steen was alone to Kolzig's right, and the puck landed on his stick for an easy relay into the open side of the net for his 10th goal.
Semin tied it 2 with 6:53 left in the third. The Russian went around Pavel Kubina, deked Toskala one way, pulled the puck the other way, and stuffed it into the open net for his 12th goal.
The teams meet again Thursday night in Washington.
Notes: Toronto was 0-for-3 on the power play, and Washington was 0-for-4. ... Maple Leafs D Bryan McCabe missed his 17th game since breaking his left hand on Dec. 15. The Leafs have earned 14 of a possible 34 points in his absence. ... Sundin entered the game ranked second in the NHL to only Carolina's Rod Brind'Amour in faceoffs taken and faceoff wins. In 1,177 drops of the puck in 49 games, Sundin had won 645 (54.8 percent). ... Fletcher says he'll examine an expanded role for former Leafs captain Doug Gilmour, who is involved in player development with the team. ... Ovechkin, who signed a 13-year, $124-million contract extension on Jan. 10, has scored a goal in six straight games.