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BOX SCORE
TORONTO (AP) -- Gary Roberts found it hard to check his former
teammates. He had no problems scoring against them.
|  | | Maple Leafs goaltender Curtis Joseph, right, battles Rod Brind'Amour behind the net. |
Roberts had two goals and an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs
beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-0 on Wednesday night.
"I had a few chances to forecheck, and maybe I was not quite as
aggressive as I'd like to be forechecking," Roberts said.
"There's more to life than just hockey, and I have a lot of
friends over there, so it was a tough game for me to play."
The Hurricanes gave Roberts a chance to return from a serious
neck injury that forced him to retire in 1996. He spent three
seasons with them before signing with Toronto in the offseason.
"I have so many feelings for that organization," Roberts said.
"They treated me with nothing but respect for the three years I
was there. They understood why I decided to come to Toronto. I came
home, and I have a chance to win a Stanley Cup."
Roberts gave Toronto a 3-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 7:52
of the second. His slap shot went through goalie Arturs Irbe's
pads. Irbe was replaced by Tyler Moss after allowing three goals on
eight shots.
Roberts crashed the net and beat Moss with 4:22 left in the
second to give Toronto a 4-0 lead.
"Gary Roberts took the wind out of their sails a couple of
times, and that really slowed them down," said Curtis Joseph, who
made 27 saves for his third shutout of the season.
Roberts has a team-high eight goals, all in the last 10 games
after he was moved to the Leafs' top line with Mats Sundin and
Steve Thomas.
"Gary was real good tonight," Toronto coach Pat Quinn said.
"But he's been good since the start."
Cory Cross, Danny Markov and Darcy Tucker also scored for
Toronto, which has 12 goals in its last two games after
managing 26 in the first 12.
Joseph has 29 shutouts in 600 career games. He's allowed just
one goal in his last three games.
"Good coaches are made by good goalies," Quinn said. "He's
given us the ability to play with a young defense. He's given us
the breather to put some new faces in the lineup."
Sundin picked up his 800th career point with an assist on
Roberts' second goal.
Roberts assisted on Cross' goal at 12:49 of the first.
Four minutes later, the Leafs scored a power-play goal when
Markov one-timed a pass from Yanic Perreault.
Joseph made several impressive kick saves throughout the game,
including one with just under a minute remaining. Fans chanted
"Cujo! Cujo!" just before the buzzer sounded.
The Hurricanes finished their road trip 0-3, dropping their road
record to 1-6-1.
"You can't wish this thing to turn around," Carolina captain
Ron Francis said. "There's no easy way to turn it around. My
experience tells me it will take a lot of hard work."
Game notes
Tucker bloodied Craig Adams in a fight in the second
period, Toronto's Tie Domi fought Darren Langdon in the third, and
Toronto's Shayne Corson rocked Dave Karp in the third. ... Joseph
made 12 saves in the first period.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Carolina Clubhouse
Toronto Clubhouse
RECAPS
Pittsburgh 5
Philadelphia 2
Montreal 4
Florida 2
Nashville 4
New Jersey 3
Toronto 5
Carolina 0
Calgary 1
Minnesota 0
San Jose 3
Chicago 2
Detroit 4
Phoenix 2
Vancouver 7
Anaheim 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Cory Cross takes the pass from Gary Roberts in for the score.
avi: 598 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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