Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Vesa Toskala maks one of his 28 saves of the night during the first peeriod. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)Brian Burke wanted tough, physical hockey. That's exactly what the Toronto Maple Leafs gave him.
With their new boss watching over them, the Toronto Maple Leafs skated to a hard-fought 4-2 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers Saturday night to usher in the Brian Burke era and end a five-game losing streak.
Earlier in the day, Burke was officially introduced as the new president and general manager of the Maple Leafs at a news conference, saying he plans to assemble a team that plays with "proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence."
The Leafs displayed all four of those qualities in a first period marked with physical play, including a pair of fights, which Leafs defenceman Ian White attributed to Burke, who watched the game from a private box inside the Air Canada Centre.
"He came in before the game and told us what we already knew, that we have to stand up for each other and play a little tougher," White told Hockey Night in Canada.
"We're excited to keep progressing in the way this organization wants to go. We're in good hands for sure [with Brian]," added Leafs forward Dominic Moore, who had a goal and an assist on the night.
Leafs coach Ron Wilson warned that it will take time before Burke will be able to build the team into a Stanley Cup contender.
"He can't turn water into wine any more than I can. It's going to take some time to get everything into place," Wilson said.
Toronto goalie Vesa Toskala had a strong night, turning aside 28 shots to earn his eighth win of the season. Philadelphia's Martin Biron made 23 saves in a losing effort.
"The puck seems to hit me now and that's a nice feeling," said Toskala. "As a team, we played hard. It was really important to get a win now because we've had a losing streak going."
Lee Stempniak, acquired by Toronto in a trade with St. Louis earlier this week, scored his first goal in a Leafs uniform at 14:25 of the first period when Moore's pass from behind the net deflected off his skate and into the net.
"The toughest thing coming to a new team is you want to fit in with the guys and you want to contribute," said Stempniak. "It was great to score the first goal, especially in a win. It's definitely exciting."
Toronto's lead was short-lived, though, as Mike Richards scored 35 seconds later on a rebound in front of a crowded Toskala.
The Leafs took a 3-1 lead thanks to a pair of goals in the first half of the second period.
Biron's horrendous clearing attempt on a Toronto shoot-in nearly landed on the stick of Nik Antropov, and the Leafs forward buried it home at 2:55.
Moore was in the right place at the right time when he stepped out of the penalty box after serving a high-sticking penalty and collected a loose puck at centre ice before breaking in alone on Biron and shovelling the puck past the Flyers goalie at 8:43.
"It was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. It's not often that it happens, so you have to be ready for it before you come out [of the penalty box]," Moore said.
Richards made it a one-goal game with 2:27 left in the period. Philadelphia capitalized on some sloppy defensive play by the Leafs inside their blue-line, and Simon Gagne fed a perfect pass out front to an unmarked Richards who scored the Flyers' ninth short-handed goal of the season.
"We try to read what the other team is going to do. Sometimes when the other team is on the power play they're going to try to make some dangerous plays … we've got some skilled guys on the PK, so that's helping," Gagne said when asked by HNIC why the Flyers have been so effective on the penalty kill.
Pavel Kubina restored Toronto's two-goal advantage early in the third period, blasting a slapshot from the point through traffic and in off the post
From there, the Leafs completely shut down the Flyers, thwarting the Philly forwards every time they crossed over the Toronto blue-line.
"I thought we hung in there," said coach John Stevens. "I thought we played hard and with a lot of energy and I thought we created enough chances to win. We just didn't find the net."
With files from Canadian Press
