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 They altered the script slightly Sunday and nearly put a blemish
on that record but the result was the same.
The Maple Leafs squandered a 2-0 first-period lead and fell behind
early in the third period before defeating the Los Angeles Kings 4-3
in a shootout.
Left winger Joffrey Lupul was the first player to go in the shootout
and the only player to score to clinch Toronto's fifth straight win.
"The one thing that we try to do is create a template that we have
to play to and if we do that we can be effective," Maple Leafs coach
Randy Carlyle said. "We've proven to ourselves and hopefully we're
gaining some confidence with this that we know we can play, and we
can play well, over long stretches of time and not have valleys in
this game."
 The Maple Leafs are 13-0-0 when scoring first and are 9-1-1 since
they lost to the Nashville Predators on Nov. 18. The Kings are 1-2-1
with one game left on a five-game trip.
Center Mike Santorelli, defenseman Cody Franson and left winger
James van Riemsdyk scored for the Maple Leafs. Right winger Justin Williams, left winger Dwight King and right
winger Marian Gaborik scored for the Kings.
James Reimer stopped 33 shots in the Maple Leafs goal as the Maple
Leafs made it a productive weekend against good teams after
defeating the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Saturday.
"I think this was one of the better weekends we've played as a
team," Reimer said. "I think we've got a lot of character in the
room and we've got a huge desire to win, so we could have buckled
when we let that early one in the third in, but we stuck with it and
we kept playing, kept getting shots and drew a penalty, we were
lucky enough to get right back into it."
Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick made 28 saves.
"We battled back, it's tough to get points, especially in this
building," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "You've got to be careful
when you lose that you don't say that's okay. We played as well as
we can. We need great goaltending and we need guys to score big
goals. Usually that comes out of your top guys."
 After the Kings (15-10-6) tied the game at 2 with 14 seconds to play
in the second period, they struck early in the third period to take
a 3-2 lead. Gaborik knocked in a feed to the front of the net from
Williams at 1:02 for his fifth goal of the season.
The Maple Leafs (18-9-3) tied the game at 3 on the 13th goal of the
season by van Riemsdyk from the slot on a pass from Franson at 8:40
during a power play. Kings center Trevor Lewis was serving a penalty
for high-sticking and that forced the overtime.
"They're a fast team," Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. "They
have that one top line that's very good. Their second line played
well tonight, too. Their goalie obviously played well. They're a
good team, maybe we deserved a little better if we had got off to a
better start but we didn't and that's why we lost."
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The Maple Leafs took a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Santorelli wheeled around from behind the net and shot high for his
sixth goal of the season at 14:00 after the Maple Leafs effectively
worked the cycle down low. Franson scored his fifth of the season
put the Maple Leafs ahead 2-0 at 19:30 of the first period with a
shot from the point on a pass from center Nazem Kadri.
The Kings outshot the Leafs 11-6 in the second period and were
rewarded with two late goals.
Williams notched his eighth of the season at 16:02 after a rush down
the right wing and the puck bounced back to him in front of the net
off defenseman Jake Gardiner.
King scored his third goal of the season at 19:46 as he took the
puck to the crease and jammed it home.
"It just seemed like we were running on empty in the second Carlyle
said. "But we seemed to get our game back going in the third
period."
NOTES: The Maple Leafs played back-to-back Saturday-Sunday home
games for the first time since Oct. 17-18, 1992. ... Toronto C Tomas
Komarov (concussion) missed his seventh straight game and D Roman
Polak (knee) missed his ninth in a row. .... The teams Maple Leafs
and Kings will meet again Jan. 12 in Los Angeles. They split the two
games last season, each winning on the road. ... Maple Leafs RW
Richard Panik scored the tie-breaking goal in the 4-1 win over the
Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, giving him a career best six for the
season. ...Kings C Mike Richards recorded his 300th career NHL
assist on Friday in the 6-2 loss at Montreal. ...The Kings complete
a five-game road trip when they visit the St. Louis Blues on
Tuesday. ...The Maple Leafs are home to the Anaheim Ducks on
Tuesday.
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