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BOX SCORE
TORONTO (AP) -- The Toronto Maple Leafs turned the tables on the
Buffalo Sabres.
The Leafs beat the Sabres 6-2 Monday night after being humbled
8-1 on Saturday at Buffalo in their worst outing of the season.
|  | | Curtis Joseph flops backward to make one of his 27 saves for the Maple Leafs. |
"It was a good bounce-back effort," Toronto coach Pat Quinn
said. "It was a humiliating night and we certainly competed better
around the puck."
Toronto was led by a near-unstoppable Sergei Berezin, who took 11 shots on goal -- the most on the team this season. He scored
twice, added an assist and just missed a hat trick on a 2-on-1 late
in the game.
"We felt very bad and it felt good to get six goals," Berezin
said. "The whole team played a strong game. We needed a good
start. They play differently when they get ahead."
The Leafs scored the first five goals in a game that was never in doubt.
Igor Korolev also had two goals and Dmitri Khristich had one for
Toronto. Rookie Kevyn Adams scored his first career goal and Curtis
Joseph made 27 saves for his 20th victory.
"It was up to us to undo what happened, and we showed a lot of
professionalism," said Adams, who has drawn praise for his hard
work since being called up from the AHL on Dec. 11.
Buffalo rookie goalie Martin Biron was pulled to start the third
period after giving up four goals on 28 shots. James Patrick and
Curtis Brown scored for Buffalo.
The win gave the Maple Leafs the best record in the Eastern
Conference and coach Pat Quinn the coaching duties behind the North
American bench at the NHL All-Star game being held in Toronto.
"I was going to be around anyway ... but this is an extra
special gift," said Quinn, who last coached at the All-Star game
in 1981.
The Maple Leafs line of Tie Domi, Nik Antropov and Khristich set the tone from the opening faceoff.
"Tie had a couple chances to score," Quinn said. "I think he
has continued to get better and has played great for us."
Toronto, with the NHL's ninth-best power play, took advantage by
scoring twice on its first three man-advantage opportunities. The
Maple leafs finished the game 3-for-7.
"They got those power-play goals and they started to take the
play," Patrick said. "They had an off night (Saturday) and we
knew it would be a tough game."
The bitterness from Saturday's game came out late in the second
period after Berezin made it a 4-1 at 13:29. Antropov got into his
first fight and the big rookie held his own against Cory Sarich.
During the fight Domi and Rob Ray got together, but did not drop their gloves. Ray was left on for the next faceoff and Quinn took Domi off. They continued to taunt each other and were given misconducts.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Buffalo Clubhouse
Toronto Clubhouse
RECAPS
New Jersey 4
Ottawa 3
St. Louis 5
NY Rangers 2
Toronto 6
Buffalo 2
Dallas 4
Los Angeles 1
Edmonton 2
Colorado 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Dmitri Khristich beats rookie goalie Martin Biron.
avi: 845 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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