The New York Times-20080124-Leafs Win on Sundin-s 544th Goal

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Leafs Win on Sundin's 544th Goal

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Mats Sundin scored with 29.2 seconds left to give Toronto a 3-2 victory over the visiting Washington Capitals on Wednesday night, a day after the Maple Leafs fired John Ferguson as the team's general manager and replaced him on an interim basis with Cliff Fletcher.

Chad Kilger and Alex Steen also scored for Toronto, and Vesa Toskala made 30 saves.

Alexander Ovechkin got his league-best 39th goal, Alexander Semin also scored, and Olaf Kolzig made 21 saves for Washington.

Sundin's 21st goal of the season tied him with Maurice Richard (544) for 24th on the N.H.L.'s career list. He swept a rebound under a sprawling Kolzig to avoid overtime.

The Leafs lost left wing Alexei Ponikarovsky when he hurt his right shoulder against the end boards on a hit from behind by Steve Eminger in the 12th minute.

LEAGUE SUSPENDS KOVALCHUKAtlanta Thrashers forward Ilya Kovalchuk was suspended for one game without pay by the N.H.L. on Wednesday for a hit from behind on Rangers defenseman Michal Rozsival, keeping Kovalchuk out of the rematch Thursday night in New York.

Kovalchuk was ejected late in the first period Tuesday night after he drove Rozsival into the boards from behind after elbowing him earlier in the Rangers' 4-0 victory.

Rozsival was cut and stayed down for a few minutes.