The Tampa Tribune: Tampa Bay took the lead when Karlsson scored his second of the season on a play started when Prospal won a puck in the corner and fed to Ruslan Fedotenko, who sent in Karlsson on a backdoor play. But the Islanders answered with 55.5 seconds left when Alexei Zhitnik fired a shot that Holmqvist misplayed off his glove, a play that could have deflated the Lightning.

The Sports Network: The Leafs jumped out in front 2-1 with a power play goal at 12:42 in the third. With Kyle Calder off for holding, Mats Sundin won the draw in the offensive zone. Niittymaki stopped Bryan McCabe's 53-foot slapper, then followed up by denying Sundin's snap shot. The netminder couldn't gather the rebound, however, and Antropov was able to poke the loose puck past him to make it a 2-1 game. It was Antropov's first goal of the season.
The success came as a result of head coach Paul Maurice changing up the lines in the intermission.
«Paul told me and Pony (Ponikarovsky) to stand out there at each goal post and pick the garbage," said Antropov afterward. «My job is to do whatever the coach puts me on the ice to do, and to do my best. The three of us (including Sundin) are about 600 pounds combined and that's gonna make something happen.»
Toronto then doubled its lead with 3:54 left as Ponikarovsky beat Niittymaki top-shelf with a blazing wrist shot to make it 3-1.

Canadian Press: Just when things were rolling along for the Toronto Maple Leafs they suffered a huge blow.
Superstar captain Mats Sundin will be out three to four weeks with a right elbow injury.
«It's a slight tear of the ligament," Leafs GM John Ferguson said Wednesday. «It happened in the first period (of Monday's game against Philadelphia) and he played the rest of the game. He won the faceoff for the winning goal in the third period. ...
«But he was obviously under some great deal of discomfort after the game.»
Sundin led the Leafs with 19 points (8-11) in 17 games. The 36-year-old centre was especially hot in the last five games, collecting nine points (3-6).
Darcy Tucker is next in scoring on Toronto with 16 points (10-6) in 17 games, followed by Kaberle (13 points), and Alexei Ponikarovsky, Kyle Wellwood and Matt Stajan all at 12 points apiece.

СЭ: Баффаловские боссы вернулись к старым желто-синим цветам, но эмблему команде решили придумать новую, в соответствии со своими понятиями о модерновом шик-люксе. Таким образом, Максим Афиногенов со товарищи вышли в этом году на лед в свитерах с желтой соплей на груди, видимо, символизирующей бизона, но больше похожей на улитку или слизняка. «Мама дорогая!» — только и сказали верные фанаты из чокнутого на хоккее города. И засыпали петициями и мольбами офис клуба. Увы, безрезультатно...
Но если смена формы послала город в нокдаун, то главный удар был впереди. В первый месяц сезона новый свитер с этой самой рогатой загогулиной во всей ее красе стал самым продаваемым в НХЛ. Во всей НХЛ! Бизоний сперматозоид расходится по Северной Америке быстрее, чем торонтский листопад, рейнджеровские тесемки и детройтское автомобильное крыло. Либо у местных болельщиков атрофировалось чувство вкуса, либо дело тут в чем-то другом. В чем же?
...

Canadian Press: The problem might actually be that they had success in those first games without Sundin.
Maurice believes his team lacked urgency in the offensive zone during the losses last week.
«Our offence . . . is showing signs of complacency I think," said Maurice. «What happens is you score some goals and you get a little bit of confidence and you start taking it for granted a little bit.»
Kyle Wellwood has taken over the role of the team's No. 1 centre in Sundin's absence. While he and wingers Alex Ponikarovsky and Nik Antropov have shown some spark, they aren't exactly a threat to become the most potent line in the league.

The New York Times: Jagr’s goal also gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead early in the game, and they played comfortably with that lead throughout the first period, outshooting the Lightning by 12-6 and allowing few dangerous scoring chances. Two of them came on one play with 3:28 left in the period. Lundqvist made two huge saves, on a shot by defenseman Dan Boyle and on the rebound by Ruslan Fedotenko.

National Post: Forward Alexei Ponikarovsky believes that the word is out in the National Hockey League and the Leafs, who failed to make the playoffs last season, can no longer surprise teams with their new and improved run-and-gun offence.
«They know we're not the same team as last year," said Ponikarovsky, who has seven goals in 21 games. «They look at the statistics and how we play. For sure, they're trying to do something against us. They probably realized that they can't play like that against us.»

The Canadian Press: Toronto had a 10-6 shots advantage in the period, and Ponikarovsky sealed the win when, with his back to the net, he backhanded in a rebound with DiPietro down and out of position during a scramble at 18:51.