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  Thursday, Dec. 23 7:30pm ET
Leafs tie Wings for first overall
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

TORONTO (AP) -- The Toronto Maple Leafs are feeling pretty good about the way they're playing right now.

Five straight wins can do that to a team.

Tie Domi
Toronto's Tie Domi shows New Jersey's Randy McKay why he's one of the league's most notorious enforcers.
Nik Antropov had a goal and an assist as the Maple Leafs won their fifth straight with a 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.

"It was one of our best games this year," Toronto goalie Curtis Joseph said. "We're just going to try and keep it going."

Igor Korolev, Jonas Hoglund and Dmitri Khristich also scored for Toronto, which tied Detroit for the most points in the NHL with 50.

Danny Markov set up Antropov to the left of Devils goalie Martin Brodeur for the go-ahead goal at 12:49 of the second period. Antropov, who had only one goal in his first 22 NHL games, has four in his last three.

Claude Lemieux gave New Jersey an early 1-0 lead before the Maple Leafs stormed back.

Lemieux got his stick on Lyle Odelein's point shot to put the Devils up 1-0 at 8:23. Korolev tied it 1-1 with a breakaway goal at 16:05 while killing a cross-checking penalty against teammate Kevyn Adams.

"They're a tough team to play against," Toronto defenseman Bryan Berard said. "They play that trap to a T."

Hoglund's power-play goal at 14:57 of the second period gave the Leafs a 3-1 lead. Khristich added a goal off a pass from Steve Thomas at 15:03 of the third to make it 4-1.

New Jersey outshot Toronto 32-20, but Joseph made a number of outstanding saves.

"It just seemed like we had a lot of jump," Joseph said in deflecting praise to his teammates. "All the lines were going and everybody had good speed.

"I thought we could have had a few more goals."

 


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NHL Scoreboard

New Jersey Clubhouse

Toronto Clubhouse


RECAPS
Montreal 3
Boston 3

Ottawa 4
Carolina 3

Buffalo 2
Colorado 1

NY Islanders 4
NY Rangers 2

Atlanta 4
Philadelphia 4

Pittsburgh 4
Tampa Bay 3

Toronto 4
New Jersey 1

St. Louis 2
Nashville 2

Chicago 5
Dallas 2

Calgary 2
Edmonton 1

AUDIO/VIDEO
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 Igor Korolev glides in for the easy goal.
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