[ALBSA-Info] DOMI the Albanian (fwd)

[eriola]

The Toronto Sun

December 7, 2001 Friday, Final Edition

Sports; Pg. 87

DOMI'S PLAY HAS IMPACT

MIKE ULMER

NEW YORK

SEGH_BODYBODY:
In every sporting contest, there is a moment that can be fully appreciated
only by the people who play the game.

Last night, the Maple Leafs beat the New York Rangers 6-3 and while the
shinny story angles would choke an elephant, the moment that mattered most
wouldn't make the highlight reel on a night with one game.

"Definitely, the big play of the night," Leafs general manager/coach Pat
Quinn said.

"No question," Gary Roberts said. "That's what got us going."
   Lost in a night of story lines:
* Roberts, goalless since Oct. 30, and unhappy over ice time, scoring three.
* Mats Sundin, matched head-to-head with Eric Lindros. Sundin had a goal and
two assists to answer the critics who surface whenever the Leafs captain fa!
ils to dominate.

* Quinn changing up his lines during the second period to win his 500th game
behind the bench.

The game, however, came down to one little play. Eight minutes into the
second period, with the Leafs down 2-0 and looking every bit as listless as
they did in falling 1-0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, Tie Domi
grabbed a loose puck in the Rangers zone. Domi, of course, has made his
playing time an issue lately. He had two shifts during the first period, but
here he was, with Roberts, chugging toward the net.

"I just got a little bit of space," Domi said. "Everyone has been telling me
to shoot. Fortunately for us, the puck hit Gary Roberts' stick on the heel
and went in."

The effect of that goal would overcome the Rangers' two-goal lead. Its
residual impact would make the Rangers' game-tying goal early in the third
period a mere annoyance.

Now how can that be? How can a fourth-liner, valued for his fists, turn
around a team, not with a hit, but with a! tight spin and a shot on goal t
hat didn't even go in?

Because it was Tie Domi. It mattered more because it was the Leafs' senior
tough guy supplying an adrenalin jolt that only a 5-foot-8 pug-faced son of
Albania can deliver.

The truth is, for all the talk about his role as a fighter, Domi matters
most to the Leafs when he does something with his hands that doesn't involve
the word pummel.

If Alyn McCauley or Garry Valk or Dmitry Yushkevich or Wade Belak makes the
same play, the impact is markedly different. There is no understanding human
dynamics. It just matters more that Tie Domi made the play.

Quinn, wise to Domi's effect, promptly popped him on the first line and the
little man, his ego and ambition heightened, turned in solid shift after
solid shift. The rest of the Leafs simply followed the leader.

"He's an intense guy, a great c! ompetitor," Sundin said, struggl ing for an
explanation of what he feels and knows but can't quite quantify. "He's not
going to get 30 or 40 goals. It's a spark when you see him score."

And nearly as great a spark as when his shot hits Roberts' stick and ignites
the lumber in Roberts' hands.

"I couldn't agree more," Roberts said. "Every time he's on the ice, he's
trying to create something. When you're on the ice you know where he's going
to be, behind the net."
   RANGERS HAD NO ANSWER
The rest of the game, for the Leafs, was a lark. The Rangers, playing their
fourth game in seven nights, had no answer for the Roberts goal. Nor did
Lindros, who registered one puny shot and a single hit in what was for him a
night spent with the cloak of invisibility.

Roberts scored again to tie the game 2-2 and before the second intermission,
Shayne Corson's first goal in 13 games lifted the Leafs into a 3-2 lead.

A Vladimir Malakhov goal was the Rangers' last gasp. The ! Leafs' No. 1 line
delivered, fir st on Sundin's 14th goal and then, on a lovely saucer pass
from Sundin to Hoglund, who finally broke a lousy streak that saw him score
just once in 13 games. Then, for a nice clincher, Roberts' third of the
night.

All because of a silly little play by a fourth-line forward who never has
scored more than 11 goals in his career. This must be the way these games
are played by human beings.