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Saturday, Jan. 22 7:00pm ET
Caps, Leafs settle for 5-5 tie | |||||
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TORONTO (AP) -- Chris Simon has become more than just a fighter. Simon scored twice as the Washington Capitals extended their undefeated streak to seven with a 5-5 tie with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Simon, who scored only three goals last season when he was limited to 23 games by injuries, has 13 this season. His NHL-career best is 16 in 1995-96, when he played for the Colorado Avalanche. "I think he can score 25 to 30 goals," Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. "You get laughed at when you say that because people know about his pugilistic powers and expect that from him rather than goals. "But he's a great player. A lot of people have never seen Chris play when he's healthy because he's been hurt so much. Now that he's healthy, this is something we expect from him." Ulf Dahlen, Sergei Gonchar and Richard Zednik also scored for the Capitals, who are 8-1-3 in their last 12. Tomas Kaberle scored twice for the Maple Leafs, and Mats Sundin, Kevyn Adams and Alyn McCauley added goals. Sundin beat Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig in overtime, but his shot came a second after time expired. McCauley gave Toronto a 5-4 lead off a goal-mouth scramble at 7:26 of the third period. It was his first goal since last Oct. 23. He's missed 24 games with a concussion, flu and food poisoning. "I wasn't worrying about not scoring," McCauley said. "You can't let yourself do that. You just keep plugging away and hope one will go in. I'm just happy to get one." Zednik tied it 5-5 when he beat Curtis Joseph from the right-wing circle at 18:18."I had to go upstairs on Cujo. He's a butterfly goalie and they go down a lot," Zednik said. "It hit me and went into the top of the net," Joseph said. "I thought I had good position, but it found a way to get in." In the Capitals' dressing room, Simon said that playing on a line with center Adam Oates is a big reason for his success. "He's a great passer," Simon said. "It just seemed as if he was finding me every time I was in the open tonight. "I'm just trying to shoot the puck hard and get it on the net." Simon scored 36 goals in 57 OHL games for the Ottawa 67s in 1989-90, so maybe Wilson's prediction of 30 is realistic. "He's really dedicated himself to being a pro this season and now he's reaping the reward," Wilson said. When Simon wasn't firing pucks past Joseph, he was bothering the Leafs' goalie by crowding the crease. "I thought the eclipse was a few days ago," Joseph said in comparing to the screen created by Simon to the lunar eclipse on Thursday. Washington took a 1-0 lead when Dahlen outhustled Dmitri Khristich to get the puck behind Toronto's net, skated out front as Khristich waved a stick at him and shoved his own rebound behind Joseph at 4:31. With Adams off for hooking, Simon lifted a shot into the far top corner past Joseph at 6:27 to make it 2-0. Kaberle scored on the power play at 16:47 to make it 2-1, but Gonchar jumped on a bad move by Joseph to make it 3-1 34 seconds into the second. Sundin scored at 10:52 of the second to cut Washington's lead to 3-2. Wendel Clark, in his first home game since joining the Leafs for the third time, passed from behind Washington's net and Sundin back-handed a dribbler past Kolzig for his 22nd goal. Adams made it 3-3 at 17:45 with a high back-hander, and Kaberle put Toronto ahead with a slap shot from the blue line on a power play at 19:24. Simon tied it 4-4 54 seconds into the third when he scored on a wrist shot off a pass from Steve Konowalchuk. Peter Bondra, out since Jan. 4 with a sprained knee, returned to Washington's lineup but did not score. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Washington Clubhouse Toronto Clubhouse RECAPS Carolina 4 Buffalo 1
Washington 5 AUDIO/VIDEO   Mats Sundin runs out of time.avi: 920 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||