Anderson Doesn’t Hesitate This Time : Maple Leafs: After failing to score earlier in overtime, he makes shot that gives Toronto a 3-2 victory.

Glenn Anderson didn’t have to consult the clock hanging over the ice at Maple Leaf Gardens to know only a few seconds remained in overtime. After five Stanley Cup championships with the Edmonton Oilers and 13 NHL seasons, Anderson has a sense of timing that is innate and unerring.

But he also knew he had two options when his attempted shot on King goaltender Kelly Hrudey bounced off Pat Conacher’s stick on the way to the net and hopped unexpectedly back to him.

Unsure he could get a shot through a maze of players, Anderson could have waited for a teammate to get to the net and passed the puck. Or he could have challenged Hrudey again and hoped that if the goalie stopped him, a teammate might get a rebound.

Anderson had no more than a second to decide, a second that could change the course of the Maple Leafs’ season. He didn’t hesitate.

“The last thing I remember went through my mind was ‘Take the shot. There’s not much time,’ ” Anderson said.

“Earlier (at 6:15 of the overtime) I had a really good chance on a breakaway and I was very disappointed I didn’t put it away then. To get a second chance was just great.”

Anderson put away that second chance, batting a hip-high shot past Hrudey with 40 seconds to play in overtime and giving Toronto a 3-2 victory and a 3-2 edge in the best-of-seven Campbell Conference final series.

“I got a piece of it, but it doesn’t really matter, I guess,” Hrudey said. “Anderson just knocked it out of the air, through my legs. It was a great play by him.”

And it certainly wasn’t the only great play he has made in the playoffs over the years. The goal was Anderson’s 86th in postseason play, the fourth-highest total in Stanley Cup history. But if he had scored any more important goals, the 32-year-old right wing couldn’t remember them Tuesday as he sat in Toronto’s locker room, sweat still beaded on his forehead.

“I’d have to look back and see how close it is to being my biggest goal,” said Anderson, a member of Edmonton’s five Stanley Cup-winning teams. “I just hope there’s a lot more left in me.”

Mike Krushelnyski, who was Anderson’s teammate in Edmonton and was reunited with him in Toronto, said Anderson’s goal Tuesday “ranks right up there” with all the others he saw Anderson score for the Oilers.

“Actually, I thought he was going to do it earlier,” Krushelnyski said, referring to the shot by Anderson that Hrudey stopped with his right leg at 6:15. “The way we felt was, ‘Just keep the pressure on, keep the pressure on.’ I was hoping one of our guys would get a rebound and bat it in.”

So Anderson was merely following the script?

Hardly.

Although the Kings appeared to tire in the last few minutes of overtime, hurling themselves at the puck when their heavy legs wouldn’t carry them and grabbing onto the Maple Leafs’ shirts and shoulders, Anderson said he never felt a Toronto victory was inevitable.

“When you carry the pressure like that, it can backfire. I’ve seen that happen,” he said. “You keep pressing and pressing and the other team gets a break and goes down ice and scores. . . .

“I could see the faces of (Wayne) Gretzky, Jarri Kurri, Marty McSorley and Pat Conacher. They’d all been in that situation before and if you give them one break, they’re going to capitalize on it. They’re great hockey players and they’ve got a real will to win.”

But it’s Anderson and the Oilers who have the lead now.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Anderson insisted. “The Los Angeles Kings are playing great hockey and this is not over. They’ve got too much pride to say die. They’re saying to themselves, ‘There’s no way it’s over.’

“Really, I don’t think the Toronto Maple Leafs have put a full 60 minutes of hockey together. We’ve got to be able to play our best hockey because the L.A. Kings are playing their best.”