Out of the blue comes Belak
By TERRY KOSHAN -- Toronto Sun
Unless you've been to Sunrise, Fla., Chicago or Tampa in the past couple of years to watch the Maple Leafs play, chances are excellent you've never actually seen Wade Belak score a goal for Toronto.
Those are the locales in which Belak found the net for the Leafs before he finally scored his first goal at the Air Canada Centre in the Leafs' 4-3 overtime victory against the Washington Capitals last night.
"It's about (bleeping) time," Belak said with a laugh. "It has only been, what, three seasons now? I want to show the fans I can score too."
Belak scored the Leafs' third goal at 8:48 of the third period when he went to the net, put his stick blade on the ice and re-directed a hard pass by Robert Svehla behind Sebastien Charpentier.
Belak was claimed on waivers from the Calgary Flames on Feb. 16, 2001 and has played in 131 games for Toronto. He has two goals this season, a career high, with the other coming on Feb. 5 against the Lightning.
Belak came within an assist of recording the infamous Gordie Howe hat trick, accomplished when a player scores, assists and fights. Belak and Stephen Peat scrapped late in the third, with Peat emerging victorious.
Although a single goal at home may not be much to get overly excited about, it does represent a bit of an arrival for Belak, whose only career playoff goal came last spring in New York against the Islanders. He was a healthy scratch in 22 of the Leafs' 32 games this season but has proven valuable since Christmas with his ability to play either defence or the wing and not look silly in doing so. In the past few games, Belak has helped form an effective buzzsaw line with Darcy Tucker and Tom Fitzgerald.
"A line like that causes the opposition to at least want to know where they are," general manager/coach Pat Quinn said.
"There are lots of ingredients in this game and we value the Jagrs and Mogilnys, but we also like guys who can pound somebody into the wall."
