Francis Does It His Way and Hurricanes Win, 6-5

Ron Francis said goodbye to Maple Leaf Gardens in his own special way with a five-point performance.

The 35-year-old native of Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, who grew up a Maple Leafs’ fan, had two goals and three assists in his final game at the 67-year-old arena as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Maple Leafs, 6-5, Wednesday night.

It was the next-to-last NHL game to be played at Maple Leaf Gardens. The Maple Leafs will play their final game there Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks before opening their new Air Canada Centre on Feb. 20 against Montreal.

St. Louis 5, Tampa Bay 4--Pavol Demitra and Terry Yake scored third-period goals at Tampa as the Blues rallied to hand the Lightning their seventh consecutive loss.

The Blues, who ended a league-high 69-game winless streak (0-59-10) when trailing after two periods with a 5-4 win at Florida on Monday, did it again after trailing, 4-3, after 40 minutes.

San Jose 5, Chicago 2--The Sharks, who entered the game last in the NHL in power-play efficiency with only 29 goals in 248 attempts for an 11.7 percentage, scored on three of seven power-play opportunities at Chicago.