Toronto’s change is good for Ducks

Maple Leafs Coach Ron Wilson played the percentages and still couldn’t get Toronto a shootout win.

When the Maple Leafs and the Ducks were tied after overtime, Wilson pulled starting goalie Vesa Toskala for backup Curtis Joseph. But despite Joseph’s lower scoring percentage -- 28 for 54 -- in shootouts, Corey Perry and Teemu Selanne beat Joseph to give the Ducks a 3-2 win Tuesday night.

“I was playing the percentages,” Wilson said. “I’m not going to hesitate to do that until we get Tosk a little more practice, a different way of thinking on stopping the other team in shootouts. I had nothing to lose.”

Just another shootout, is all -- it was the third shootout loss in four games for Toronto. Neither Toskala nor Joseph professed surprise at Wilson’s move, but the Ducks did.

“I’ve never seen it happen before,” Perry said. “I saw [Joseph] warming up and I turned to the bench and said, ‘They’re putting him in?’ ”

He and Selanne each beat Joseph with quick shots while Toronto’s Nikolai Kulemin and Tomas Kaberle both missed the net with their shootout opportunities.

The Ducks failed to register a shot in the third period -- the first time in franchise history that has happened -- and Toronto outshot them, 28-7, over the final two regulation periods and overtime.

Still, the Ducks got the win, only their second in seven games this season.

“We have to start somewhere,” goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. “We’ll take any two points we can get, but we need a better 60-minute effort.”

Added Coach Randy Carlyle: “The way we’ve been going, we’ll take everything we possibly can.”

Francois Beauchemin and George Parros scored in the first period for the Ducks, giving them a 2-0 lead. Nik Antropov scored both Toronto goals in the third period, the second one tying the score with 52.8 seconds left in regulation.