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BOX SCORE
MONTREAL (AP) -- Jonas Hoglund can rest assured that his last
career move was his best.
|  | | Jonas Hoglund (left) celebrated with Mats Sundin after earning his first career hat trick Saturday. |
Hoglund scored three times for his first career hat trick and
Curtis Joseph stopped 31 shots as the Toronto Maple Leafs handed
the hapless Montreal Canadiens their fifth straight loss 6-1
Saturday night.
Hoglund, who signed with Toronto in the summer of 1999 after
spending a little more than one season with Montreal, scored twice
in the first period and added his ninth of the season in the second
to send the Canadiens to their 10th loss in 11 games.
"I've been there so I know it's not easy for the guys,"
Hoglund said. "I feel for the guys and hopefully they can break
out of this. They've got great players over there, so if they keep
working hard things will happen for them. They're going to turn it
around."
Montreal has dropped five straight at home after going
undefeated through its first five home games. The loss, combined
with Minnesota's 6-1 win in Boston, left the Canadiens with the
worst record in the NHL at 5-13-2.
"If you can get into my insides right now, you'd have a pretty
good idea of what they look like," Montreal coach Alain Vigneault
said. "And they're not pretty."
With many blue and white-clad Maple Leafs fans among the sellout
crowd of 21,273 at the Molson Centre, cries of "Go Leafs, go!"
resounded as Toronto scored three times in the second, including
Hoglund's ninth of the season.
"That was great," Hoglund said of the fan support. "But it's
always great coming here. It was the same thing last year, and even
when I played in Montreal, playing against the Leafs here in
Montreal you can't really say who's the home team."
Bryan McCabe, Yanic Perreault and Darcy Tucker also scored for
Toronto, which evened its road record at 4-4-1. Steve Thomas
assisted on each of Hoglund's goals.
The win stopped the Maple Leafs' winless streak at four.
Toronto, which hadn't won since Nov. 8 in Florida, still managed
three points in the four games with two ties and an overtime loss.
Martin Rucinsky scored the Canadiens' only goal at 4:35 of the
first as he poked a loose puck past Joseph, for his fifth goal,
just 35 seconds after Hoglund opened the scoring.
Joseph stopped Oleg Petrov's back-hander and Toronto went right
down the ice and made it 1-0. Hoglund poked a rebound of Thomas'
shot past goalie Eric Fichaud at the 4:00 mark.
After Rucinsky tied it, Hoglund got his second of the game 14:40
in, to give the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead. His slap shot from just
inside the blue line deflected off Montreal defenseman Eric
Weinrich's stick and over Fichaud's glove.
McCabe scored his first goal of the season 3:44 into the second
to chase Fichaud, who stopped just 10 of 13 shots in his first
start for Montreal.
Jose Theodore, replaced by Fichaud in Friday night's 4-3 loss at
Washington, came on and gave up goals to Yanic Perreault and
Hoglund 29 seconds apart midway through the period.
Despite enjoying a four-goal lead, Joseph didn't ease up as he
sprawled to his right to rob Sergei Zholtok at the edge of the
crease with less than five minutes left in the second.
"They worked hard and they got quite a few chances, but as a
goalie, sometimes you're called upon to make the saves until your
team gets going and that's what happened tonight," Joseph said.
"Then we scored lots of goals and gave me a little cushion."
Zholtok, the Canadiens' leading goal scorer last season with 26,
has yet to score this season through 20 games.
Game notes
Hoglund, who scored 29 goals for Toronto last season,
scored just 14 in 102 games with Montreal in 1997-98 and 1998-99.
... The Maple Leafs' lineup featured four former Canadiens:
Hoglund, Shayne Corson, Darcy Tucker and Dave Manson. ... Fichaud
was Toronto's first pick -- 16th overall --Game notes
in the 1994 NHL draft.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Toronto Clubhouse
Montreal Clubhouse
RECAPS
New Jersey 3
Carolina 2
Los Angeles 6
Colorado 4
Minnesota 6
Boston 1
Toronto 6
Montreal 1
Ottawa 5
Florida 2
Philadelphia 5
Washington 3
Pittsburgh 3
Atlanta 1
Nashville 3
Detroit 2
St. Louis 4
Buffalo 1
Anaheim 6
Phoenix 2
NY Rangers 5
Calgary 4
San Jose 5
NY Islanders 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Toronto's Jonas Hoglund records his first career hat trick.
avi: 1560 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Toronto's Jonas Hoglund scores his first of three goals on the night.
avi: 613 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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