Belfour remained stuck at 447 wins with Terry Sawchuk as the visiting Los Angeles Kings earned a 2-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs before a crowd of 19,403 at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday.
Belfour tied Sawchuk for second spot on the NHL's all-time wins list behind Patrick Roy (551) by beating the Florida Panthers 2-1 last Monday, but has since lost three consecutive starts to the Tampa Bay Lightning, San Jose Sharks and Kings.
"He's such a great goalie and he's had such an awesome career," Kings goaltender Mathieu Garon of Belfour.
Dustin Brown celebrates on Tuesday. (CP Photo/Aaron Harris)
"It's just great to play against guys like that. But you don't want to be the ones giving him the chance to win that game."
Sawchuk, who, like Belfour, was born in Manitoba, posted a stunning record 103 shutouts in 971 NHL games with the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Maple Leafs, Kings and New York Rangers.
He died at the age of 41 on May 31, 1970.
Dustin Brown scored both goals as Los Angeles (17-11-1) snapped a four-game losing streak in a hockey hotbed.
"This is a hard building to win hockey games in," Kings centre Jeremy Roenick said. "But we stuck through it and killed off a lot of penalties.
"This is a big plus for us. Hopefully, this gets us off our little skid."
"J.R. always says it (Toronto) is the best place to score goals, so to get two is a pretty fun experience," added Brown, held pointless in his previous dozen games.
"It's nice to get it out of the way and take that pressure off myself. And it's a lot better to do it in a win."
Eric Belanger and Mattias Norstrom each had two assists and Garon was magnificent in goal, turning aside 36 of 37 shots.
"You don't want to go home with five losses in a row," Garon said. "We just wanted to win."
"He was good controlling his rebounds, that's for sure," observed forward Darcy Tucker, who scored the lone goal for Toronto. (15-11-3).
Belfour managed 21 saves in defeat.
"There's been nights this year when Eddie stole games for us," Maple Leafs defenceman Ken Klee noted. "That's just the way it goes."
Brown staked Los Angeles to a 1-0 lead less than four minutes into the contest, taking three swipes at the puck in the crease to score his fifth goal of the season.
Again parked near the crease, he tucked the puck just inside the left goal post after Belfour juggled Norstrom's initial shot for his second of the game and sixth overall at 4:06 of the second period.
"He was battling around the front of the net and those were typical Dustin Brown goals," Kings head coach Andy Murray pointed out. "They weren't goals where he picked it up and went end to end.
"They were scored within four feet of the goal. He missed a few chances in recent games but, tonight, he was there and put it in."
Tucker halved Toronto's deficit at the 8:33 mark, converting Tomas Kaberle's soft pass from an awkward angle during a 5-on-3 power play for his 13th.
The Maple Leafs went a lowly 1-9 with the man advantage.
with files from CP Online
