AP: Toronto Maples Leafs' Alexei Ponikarovsky (23), of Ukraine, tips the puck as he crashes into Tampa Bay Lightning goalie John Grahame during the first period Wednesday night, Nov. 30, 2005, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

fox23: The Maple Leafs went ahead 2-0 after the Leafs found themselves shorthanded with Mats Sundin off for hooking. During the ensuing Thrasher power play, Nik Antropov stole the puck in his own zone and backhanded a pass up the ice to Ponikarovsky, who had slipped behind the defense. Ponikarovsky then skated in and backhanded a shot that found room on Garnett's glove side with 1:10 left in the first.
«He was sharp early in the game," said Toronto head coach Pat Quinn of Tellqvist. «Our penalty killers were good too and the best part about penalty killing is usually the goaltender and he certainly answered tonight.»

Al Strachan: One of the former was the continuing improvement of Alexei Ponikarovsky.
Written off by many at the start of the season as a waste of salary-cap room, Ponikarovsky easily is the Leafs' most improved player. And as he moves up the ladder, he is taking Nik Antropov with him.
The two are emerging as the Leafs' most-effective penalty-killing unit, with Antropov providing the reach and the hands while Ponikarovsky is providing the speed and the muscle.
And when you get right down to it, Ponikarovsky's hands aren't too bad, either. When he roofed that short-handed goal in Atlanta on Thursday night after Antropov sent him away on a breakaway, Ponikarovsky looked more like one of the league's elite scorers than a guy who was on the trading block a month ago.

Lance Hornby —- Toronto Sun: «We'll see," Ponikarovsky said about his National Hockey League-leading four short-handed points (three goals and one assist). «About a third of the season has gone by, but if I have the opportunity, I would try to score for sure.
Ponikarovsky, who is now one goal shy of his overall total of nine in '03-04, is not fussy about scoring short-hand, power-play or at even strength. This is a very competitive team for job security and Ponikarovsky, after years of being on the fringe, has found a steady gig on the wing with Nik Antropov, between Jason Allison.

CP: Alexei Ponikarovsky has a real tree.
Because of the lockout, Ponikarovsky spent last Christmas in Kyiv in his homeland of Ukraine. Gifts were exchanged on New Year's Eve. The religious day for Christmas there is Jan. 7.
Ponikarovsky and his wife, Inna, and children Jessica, 3, and Alex, 1, will spend this weekend like most Canadians so that Jessica can share the same experience as her friends.
«We're going to open our gifts Dec. 25 like everybody else," said Ponikarovsky.
He got into the swing of Canadian things by piling the family into his car and driving north for an hour to find a tree farm. He cut down a beautiful blue spruce, which now stands in their living room.
«We went for a sleigh ride and spent four or five hours up there," he said.

Ken Fidlin, Toronto Sun: «His value to us this year shouldn't be measured in statistics because he has been doing things that allow him to be a valuable player," said Pat Quinn yesterday, the morning after Ponikarovsky had been a major contributor to Toronto's win over the Buffalo Sabres.

AP Photo/Fred Chartrand, CP: Ottawa Senator goaltender Dominik Hasek has a visit in his goal crease from Toronto Maple Leaf forward Alexei Ponikarovsky during NHL hockey in Ottawa on Saturday January 21, 2006. Hasek got a shutout as the Senators defeated the Leaf 7-0