NOTES

Toronto Coach Pat Burns says King Coach Barry Melrose doesn’t respect him.

Also, he took umbrage with Melrose’s remark that the Maple Leafs are so good at protecting a lead because they have “10 guys 30 years old. They plug up the middle pretty well.”

Melrose said he meant it as a compliment to the Maple Leafs’ experience, but Burns saw it as an insult.

“We had 99 points this year,” Burns said. “His team had 88. I guess our 30-year-olds did a pretty good job clogging up the middle. We beat Detroit and St. Louis, and I firmly believe we’ll beat the Los Angeles Kings, too.”

*

Despite being benched Tuesday, Jimmy Carson almost doubled his series point total.

The official scorer initially credited Carson (No. 12) with making the diagonal back pass to Warren Rychel that led to Jarri Kurri’s goal at 14:15 of the second period and announced the goal as Kurri from Rychel and Carson. It took several minutes before the mistake was corrected and Alexei Zhitnik was properly credited with the assists.

*

Toronto left wing Mark Osborne was scratched from the lineup because his wife, Madolyn, went into labor with the couple’s first child. Center Peter Zezel returned after missing Sunday’s game because of a strained neck.

*

Their styles are different but their stories are remarkably alike: a rookie goalie, French-Canadian by birth, has a spectacular playoff run and leads his team surprisingly far in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“Well, back in ’86 there was a guy named (Patrick) Roy,” Toronto Coach Pat Burns said. “I tell you, if Felix doesn’t come up big for us tonight, we’re in trouble.”

Just as Roy’s acrobatics carried the Canadiens to the 1986 championship, Felix Potvin has taken the Maple Leafs to the brink of the Stanley Cup finals. His 41 saves, including 10 in overtime, kept the Maple Leafs in a game they nearly lost because of their offensive fumblings.

“We knew he was going to have to steal some games for us,” Burns said. “He stole this game tonight.”

Potvin downplayed his performance. “I always just try to make the saves to keep the team in the game,” he said. “We were behind, 2-0, but we showed some character and came back.”