TORONTO -- Phil Kessel had the game-winning goal, but it was his near fight with a familiar foe that sparked the Toronto Maple Leafs to a comeback victory Saturday night. Bryce Callahan Jersey . Kessel scored the second of three straight goals for the Maple Leafs in the third period as they recovered to beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 at Air Canada Centre. He assisted on the Maple Leafs third goal and almost had the first Gordie Howe hat trick - a goal, an assist and a fight - of his NHL career when he and pesky Alexandre Burrows scuffled and just about dropped the gloves late in the second period. It would have been the second fight of the season for Kessel and Burrows, who officially scrapped back on Nov. 2 in Vancouver. The two each got roughing minors in Saturdays game, with Burrows getting an additional minor for high-sticking. "(Kessel) wasnt too thrilled about all that and neither was anyone on the bench," said linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Maybe you can look at that as something that got Phil a little bit excited." At the time of the fracas, the Canucks were clinging to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Ryan Kesler in the last minute of the first. That all changed in the third period, when the Leafs broke out with three goals in the span of 4:42. "It was a one-goal hockey game and here we had an opportunity to pull a hockey game out of the fire by scoring one goal and giving ourselves a chance," said Leafs coach Randy Carlyle. "We have a break coming, and it would make everybody feel a lot better about themselves with a win here versus a loss." The win was the 11th in the past 14 games for the Leafs and their seventh straight at home. "About six games ago, we really focused in on playing well going into the break," said Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf. "We feel weve done that. Weve gotten some big wins. We wanted to get as many points as we could going into the break and we did that." The Canucks lost their seventh straight game and their 16th in their past 20. Theyve scored just 37 goals in that span. Vancouver is now 8-23-5 when scoring less than three goals in game (excluding the shootout). The Canucks are a near perfect 19-1-4 when scoring three or more. "Weve dug ourselves a pretty big hole here, but we need to look at it as a challenge when we get back," said Canucks coach John Tortorella. "I do believe well be healthier to fight our way through it. Were not dead and gone. Weve allowed a lot of teams to get back in and pass us, as far the playoffs are concerned. But we still have enough games to crawl back in." Mason Raymond and van Riemsdyk also scored for Toronto. Jonathan Bernier made 23 saves for the win. Roberto Luongo stopped 30 shots in defeat. Vancouvers lone goal came when Kesler took a pass in the high slot from Chris Higgins and flicked a weak wrist shot at the goal. Bernier tried to stop it with his blocker, but it deflected downwards into the net. The Canucks held onto that lead after two periods. "We just wanted to stick with it," van Riemsdyk said. "We know we didnt play necessarily as well as we could. We were playing a little bit loose with the puck. We got back to just cycling them down low and trying to create off that." Raymond got Toronto on the board at 7:23 when he circled the Canucks net and snuck a wrist shot past Luongo for his 16th goal of the season. The Leafs then took their first lead of the game at 10:03. On a delayed penalty call, with a sixth attacker on the ice for Bernier, Kessel snapped a shot near the Canucks blueline that found its way past a screened Luongo. It was Kessels 31st of the season. Tyler Bozaks assist on the goal was the 100th of his NHL career. Two minutes and two seconds after the Leafs took the lead, van Riemsdyk made it 3-1 when his shot at the side of the goal bounced of Alexander Edler and into the Canucks goal. It was his 24th of the season. "We got to be really happy about the last month or so," Bernier said. "Weve been playing really well. Now we just got to take some rest and hit the reset button because the real season is coming after (the break). We have to make sure were ready for the next 22 games." Notes: Canucks centre Henrik Sedin sat out his second-straight game due to injuryaLeafs centre Jay McClement didnt return after suffering an upper-body injury when he fell awkwardly into the end boards early in the second periodaThe game was a rare 6 p.m. start for a Toronto home game on SaturdayaIt was the final game for both teams before the NHL shuts down for the Winter Olympics. Akiem Hicks Jersey . - Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Percy Harvin has cleared league-mandated concussion protocol and has returned to practice as a full participant. Tarik Cohen Jersey . "This doesnt end anything," he said. "Weve got 10-1 in our last 11 games, and were going home in first place. We just have to keep playing the way we are right now. http://www.bearsfootballpro.com/Authentic_Adrian-Amos_Bears_Jersey/ . His apology came before a pregame ceremony in which the team honoured its 2004 team that won Bostons first World Series championship since 1918. "I realize that I behaved bad in Boston," Ramirez said.TORONTO -- Ken Hitchcock has a theory on how to deal with his team not scoring a lot of goals. "Just not talk about it," he said. "Talk about something else." Thats the approach the Stanley Cup-winning coach is taking with his St. Louis Blues, who have gone through a mini scoring slump. Of course they still lead the Western Conference, which is based on large part on being one of the NHLs stingiest defensive teams. "Ive always believed, like a lot of coaches, if youre not scoring, talk about checking. If you check better, youre going to get more chances," Hitchcock said Monday at Air Canada Centre. "The structure of our game, were just going to weather the storm. The structure of our game has got to stay solid like it is right now, and then well weather it and well come out on the other side fine." An 82-game regular season is a totally different animal than the Olympics, but a similar philosophy guided Team Canada to gold. Worries about a lack of offence from star forwards -- at least externally -- lasted well into the playoff round, but those were quieted by dominant play on the puck. "Its about controlling the hockey game. And you dont control the hockey game with offence, you control it with checking," said Hitchcock, who was one of Mike Babcocks assistants in Sochi. "We were tied or leading by one goal -- we werent concerned with the way we were playing that we werent scoring. It doesnt matter if youre leading 5-4 going into the third period or 1-0 as long as you have the lead youre in good shape." Like with Canada, Hitchcock said he feels comfortable seeing the Blues checking well because it means theyre "committed to the right things." One of those things hes proud of is that for a couple of games in a row St. Louis has displayed a high work standard. To Hitchcock, thats a bigger deal -- the way the Blues play -- than having ann offence thats always rolling or a power play thats constantly clicking at a high rate. Adam Shaheen Jersey. As far as special teams go, hes more concerned about the penalty kill and what that could mean come playoff time. "Ive seen a lot of (teams) who have had bad power plays do really well in the playoffs, but Ive never seen any team play worth a damn if you cant kill penalties," Hitchcock said. "Its more on can you kill the penalty at the right time because you can live with poor power plays and still win hockey games. But you cant survive if you cant kill penalties because your whole game falls apart, youre nervous, youre uptight, you panic and weve got to be great killing penalties." That would also follow Canadas blueprint. The gold-medal-winning Canadians converted on just 16.67 per cent of their power plays in six games, middle of the pack in the tournament, yet led the Olympics with a 93.75 per cent penalty-killing rate, giving up one goal on 16 chances. Hitchcock, though, must guide the Blues through choppier waters than Canada endured at the Olympics. Sixteen playoff victories are required to win the Stanley Cup, and most of those wont be by large margins. Perhaps thats one way the Blues balance plays in their favour. The have no one player in the top 35 in the league in scoring, but 10 with at least 30 points, led by Alex Steen and T.J. Oshies 54. St. Louis isnt built on scoring, which means they could be built to withstand droughts like this. "Youre going to go through stages where youre not scoring, and youre still going to have to win hockey games," Hitchcock said. "If youve got to win for a week or 10 days, youve got to win 1-0, 2-1, youve got to do it until you get back engaged where youre going to score again." Until then, the Blues are happy to talk about -- and execute on -- checking well and frustrating opponents in the process. Wholesale NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Cheap Jerseys Online China Jerseys Wholesale Stitched Jerseys Cheap Jerseys 2019 ' ' '