Saturday, Mar. 17 7:00pm ET
Berg's first goal bests Bure's hat trick
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BOX SCORE
SUNRISE, Fla. – Aki Berg upstaged Pavel Bure.
|  | | The 19th career hat trick for Pavel Bure, right, wasn't enough to beat the Maple Leafs. |
Berg's first goal of the season was the game-winner Saturday
night as the Toronto Maple Leafs overcame a hat trick by Bure and
beat the Florida Panthers 5-3.
Bure earned his fourth hat trick of the season and the 19th of
his career. He raised his league-leading goal total to 54 and has
either scored or assisted on 11 of Florida's last 12 goals.
"Well, it's much more fun when you're winning," Bure said.
"Especially in games like this when we had the lead, it hurts."
Berg, traded to Toronto from Los Angeles on Tuesday, snapped a
3-all tie at 6:12 of the third period when his shot from just
inside the blue line trickled past Florida goalie Trevor Kidd. Mats Sundin, who finished with a goal and two assists, added an empty-net goal with 7.4 seconds left.
Originally, Berg's goal was credited to Dmitry Yushkevich, who
may have had the puck glance off his stick.
"It hit someone's stick or something, I don't know," Berg
said. "It's nice to get my first goal and have it be the game-winner. I don't score a lot of goals, but when it happens I'm happy."
Bure, who led the NHL with 58 goals last season, finds little
satisfaction in his personal accomplishments with the Panthers
simply playing out the schedule.
"He's a great athlete," Toronto coach Pat Quinn said. "I love
watching him, but I didn't enjoy watching him tonight."
Bure scored his first goal at 18:02 of the first period on a
shot over Curtis Joseph's right shoulder. Joseph stopped Bure on a
breakaway with a pad save early in the second period.
Tie Domi's 13th goal of the season, at 6:11 of the second
period, tied the game at 1. With Kidd out of position behind the
net, Domi swatted the puck into an empty net while falling down in
front of the crease.
The Panthers countered with a power-play goal just over two
minutes later. Bure's slap shot from just inside the blue line got
past Joseph and gave Florida a 2-1 lead.
Bure made it 3-1 when he accepted an outlet pass from Denis
Shvidki and scored into the top right corner at 13:53 for his 10th
hat trick as a Panther.
"You have to outsmart him," Joseph said of Bure. "Tonight, he
got the better of me, that's for sure. He's paid to score goals and
that's what he does better than anyone in the world."
Kidd yielded two goals in the second and was beaten badly on
both.
Kidd sprawled to stop a shot by Gary Roberts. Kidd never got up
and the puck trickled to Nik Antropov, who simply poked it into the
right corner.
Jonas Hoglund scored though Kidd's legs for a power-play goal at
16:56 to tie the game at 3. The goal was Hoglund's 21st of the
season.
"It was just a minute and a half in the in the second period,
that was basically it," Panthers coach Duane Sutter said. "We
were in full control of a 3-1 hockey game."
Florida squandered another superlative performance by Bure and
left the door ajar for Berg's unlikely heroics.
"Bure made some great shots, but we won the game, that's the
bottom line," Joseph said.
Game notes
Panthers defenseman Paul Laus returned to action after
missing 57 games with a hernia, which required surgery. ... Florida
left wing Peter Worrell missed the game after injuring his left
shoulder in a collision with Pittsburgh's Darius Kasparaitis on
Friday night. ... Panthers left wing Marcus Nilson has three goals
and two assists over the last four games. ... The Maple Leafs are
averaging 18 penalty minutes per game. ... Bure has an eight-game
point-scoring streak (11 goals, 5 assists), the longest of the
season by a Florida player.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Toronto Clubhouse
Florida Clubhouse
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Colorado 5
Detroit 3
Los Angeles 1
San Jose 0
Philadelphia 2
NY Rangers 1
Toronto 5
Florida 3
Boston 3
Montreal 2
Buffalo 3
Washington 2
NY Islanders 3
Columbus 3
Tampa Bay 5
Pittsburgh 1
Nashville 4
Phoenix 1
St. Louis 2
Calgary 2
New Jersey 6
Edmonton 5
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Toronto's Jonas Hoglund scores on a feed from Tomas Kaberle.
avi: 649 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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