TORONTO // Jason Blake produced a magical piece of skill to score the shoot-out winner and lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. Blake moved in close and stopped in front of Devils goalie Scott Clemmensen before spinning round and slipping a backhand past him in the fourth round of the shoot-out to secure his team's third win in a row.
"It has [shoot-outs] been tough for me, so I figured what the heck, may as well try something different. It worked so I'm happy with it," Blake said. Brian Rolston fired a shot wide past Vesa Toskala as the Leafs earned their first three-game winning streak of the season. The Toronto coach Ron Wilson said Blake's shoot-out move was one he had rehearsed. "He was either going to be a hero or bum with a play like that," he said.
"A lot of things can happen when you play like that." It was the second straight loss for the Devils but just their third in 12 games as Clemmensen, who played for the Leafs last season, continues to play well deputising for the injured M artin Brodeur. "It was a lot of fun to come back here and get a chance to play," he said. "I just wish we could have had a better result." Michael Rupp and Zach Parise scored for the Devils while Nik Antropov and Jeremy Williams netted for the surprising Leafs, who are 12-12-6 and just three points from the final play-off spot in the Eastern Conference. New Jersey (16-10-2) remained seventh in the East. Clemmensen and Toskala both made 27 saves in regulation and overtime.
* Reuters
