The Toronto Maple Leafs have won six consecutive home games, but none bigger than Tuesday's pivotal victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Chad Kilger scored two goals as the Maple Leafs defeated the Hurricanes 6-1 in front of 19,559 fans at the Air Canada Centre.
Andrew Raycroft, left, and Alex Steen celebrate a 6-1 Maple Leafs triumph.
(Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
Kilger's second tally represented his 200th NHL point.
"We realized that this was a crucial game," he said.
Yanic Perreault had one goal and one assist, giving him 500 points in 800 NHL games.
"Everybody is contributing and chipping in," Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin said.
Boyd Devereaux, Pavel Kubina and Alexei Ponikarovsky had the other goals as the Maple Leafs (37-29-10) moved into a three-way tie with Carolina and the New York Islanders for ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
All three teams sit two points behind the Montreal Canadiens, who hold the eighth and final playoff berth.
"If we lose this one, we are four points behind them with six left," Kilger said. "That's a pretty tough hole to get out of."
Eric Staal scored the lone goal for the Hurricanes (38-30-8), who were dominated throughout.
"We lost," Staal said. "It doesn't matter how we lost."
Cam Ward surrendered five goals on 19 shots before being yanked in favour of John Grahame, who managed 12 saves.
"We needed to get out and have a good start," Hurricanes forward Erik Cole said. "We didn't really do that tonight."
Devereaux staked Toronto to a 1-0 lead with his seventh goal of the season 43 seconds into the contest.
But Staal tied it 90 seconds later, finishing off a slick 2-on-1 break with Cole for his 29th.
Kubina was credited with his seventh because he was the last Toronto player to touch the puck before Ward inadvertently swept it into the net with his stick at the 14:31 mark.
Kilger put the Maple Leafs ahead 3-1 with his 12th on a blistering slapshot to Ward's glove side with 2:12 to go in the first period.
"We have come out of the gate well," Maple Leafs coach Paul Maurice said. "Confidence is a big part of the game."
Kilger increased the margin with his second goal of the night and 13th overall, trailing the play and flipping in a John Pohl rebound 7:17 into the second period.
Hal Gill then sprung Perreault on a breakaway at 11:18, and he tallied high to Ward's glove side for his 21st goal this season and 500th NHL point.
Ponikarovsky completed the scoring 5:21 into the third period, sweeping around Staal and beating Grahame with a backhand shot for his 19th.
Maple Leafs goaltender Andrew Raycroft turned aside 26 of 27 shots for his 35th win of the season, two shy of Ed Belfour's franchise record.
With files from Sports Network
