Looking 'Just Awful'

At least Alexei Ponikarovsky had a reason not to show up for the Toronto Maple Leafs last night.

Toronto scratched the 29-year-old unrestricted-free-agent-to-be prior to general manager Brian Burke reportedly completing a deal that sent the winger to Pittsburgh for prospect Luca Caputi and defenceman Martin Skoula.

But Ponikarovsky's now former teammates on the Eastern Conference's worst team had no such excuse for returning from the Olympic break and getting pasted 5-1 by a Carolina Hurricanes team that only has the Maple Leafs behind them in the standings.

"If you had a checklist, we didn't check very many things off," Toronto coach Ron Wilson said of his team's lack-lustre performance. "It was just awful."

Wilson, who coached the United States men's hockey team to a silver medal in Vancouver could not help but notice the difference coaching in his everyday job.

"To me it was like the old Aqua Velva commercial, the old slap across the face and back to reality," Wilson said.

He rejected the idea today's 3 p.m. ET trade deadline played a role in his team's effort.

"They [the Hurricanes] have more guys apparently available [for trade] right now that we do, so it didn't affect their play and to me that's a lame excuse for not being ready to play.

"We weren't passionate enough about what we were

setting out to do."

Opposing players repeatedly went unchecked in Toronto's zone and Maple Leafs goaltender J.S. Giguere seemed to fight the puck for much of the night. The few genuine scoring opportunities Toronto shooters generated ended with pucks either going wide or right into Carolina netminder Justin Peters.

All any observer needed to know about the game came at the end of the second period.

For at least 90 seconds at even strength, the Hurricanes controlled the play as if they had a man advantage. All five Maple Leafs skaters on the ice collapsed into the middle of their own zone, leaving Carolina's fivesome to whip passes around, creating chance after chance.

It was almost as if the Maple Leafs players sensed all meaningful action last night would be taking place high above the ice in the management box where Burke and his chief lieutenants discussed trades.

Toronto got off on the wrong foot early when Giguere muffed a Carolina dump-in during a Maple Leafs power-play, allowing Hurricanes forward Chad LaRose to steal the puck and put it in the goalie's vacated net for a 1-0 lead just 2:53 into the game.

"We had a whole week to get ready and I can be the fist to blame for that," Giguere said. "It's a tough goal to give up at the beginning of the game. I have to give energy, I'm supposed to come out hard and try to energize the team and give some confidence."

Toronto held Carolina off the scoreboard the rest of the first period but the Hurricanes scored three times on their first four shots in the second.

Only 46 seconds, Jussi Jokinen's 24th goal of the season made it 2-0.

That was followed by goals by Brandon Sutter and Finnish Olympian Tuomo Ruutu, prompting the usual sarcastic cheers for Giguere when he actually stopped the puck.

The only real cheer of the night for Toronto's fans came when Carolina captain and Team Canada gold medalist Eric Staal had his name announced as part of a salute to all the Olympians in the building.

Sergei Samsonov's third period goal made it 5-0 for Carolina before Mitchell's fourth goal of the season wrecked Peters' bid for his first NHL shutout with 4:09 to play.