TORONTO – Phil Kessel scored twice, reaching the 20-goal plateau for the sixth straight season, to help the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 in NHL play Sunday.
The speedy Leafs sniper could have had more on the night, missing on two breakaways.
Nikolai Kulemin, Paul Ranger and Dion Phaneuf, with an empty-net goal with eight seconds remaining, also scored for Toronto, which won despite something of a Jekyll and Hyde performance.
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Nathan Gerbe and Justin Faulk replied for Carolina (14-16-9), which has not won in five games – a stretch that included two overtime defeats.
Jonathan Bernier made 41 saves as Carolina outshot Toronto 43-27 before a crowd of 19,452 at the Air Canada Centre. The Leafs were loose on defence and were fortunate the Hurricanes did not punish them more.
The game marked the halfway point of the season for Toronto (20-16-5) and was its last outing before Wednesday’s outdoor Winter Classic against Detroit before an expected crowd of 100,000-plus at the Big House in Ann Arbor, Mich.
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