the Leafs such a good offensive team is big contributions from James

TORONTO -- Italian soccer fans in Toronto didnt get to experience the "once in a lifetime" opportunity to see one of soccers greatest talents, Roberto Baggio. They were, however, treated to a 2-0 Italian victory over Portugal in Mondays legends match at BMO Field. Simone Barone scored late in the first half and Marco Del Vecchio scored early in the second securing the victory for Italy. The event was focused around the opportunity to see Baggio, who was relegated to participating in a pre-game ceremonial first kick due to a knee injury. "It was very disappointing because I wouldve liked to play here," Baggio said through a translator. "It has been 10 years since Ive played here, but unfortunately (last) Wednesday I suffered an injury in my knee." Barone got Italy on the board in the 32nd minute as he put his strike in the area up and over Portuguese keeper Paulo Santos. Then in the 52nd minute, Del Vecchio got past a challenging Paulo Santos in the area and put the loose ball into an empty net. Portugal would continue to press in the second half and Meira had an excellent chance in the 61st minute with a header in the area, but a diving Giovanni Galli managed to deflect it wide. "I was very happy to be here," continued Baggio. "The energy and the warm welcome was incredible. Especially in the Italian community, they gave a lot of emotion and the first thanks is going to them. It really was incredible to come here and feel at home." Baggio also addressed the on-going rumour that he will replace out-going Italian national coach, Cesare Prandelli. Baggio said it was just a rumour, but added changes need to be made at the top first. "Its important now to change the head of the federation because as you know, we have to change the president, first," he said. "After, well see what the new lay of the land is." Both sides exchanged numerous chances in the early going, but neither was able to find the back of the net. Portugal had an excellent chance to open the scoring in the eighth minute as Maniche put his strike from the right side of the goal wide right. Del Vecchio had two chances early. In the 10th minute he put his strike off the left side of the goal. Then in the 11th minute, alone in the area, Del Vecchio struggled with a pass before finally putting his shot just wide of the goal. Looking to even the score in the 32nd minute, Italian keeper Giovani Galli managed to stop a Fernando Meira header from just outside the area. "Its a big pleasure any time you get a chance to play for your national team, it was really cool to play in front of so many fans especially with such a big Portuguese community here in Toronto," said Portuguese striker, Pauleta. "The Italians played really well. They always have really good defenders. "For me, I think their goalie was the best player on the field. It wouldve been nice to score of course." Mondays event is part of a weeklong attempt to cure soccer fans World Cup withdrawal. In addition to the Italy-Portugal legends match, on Wednesday Toronto FC will play host to the English Premier Leagues Tottenham Hotspur. Current TFC striker Jermaine Defoe appeared in 274 games for the Spurs on two separate stops with the club. Then to close-out the week, Serie As AC Milan will kick off against Superleague Greeces Olympiacos on Thursday. Despite just returning from World Cup appearances, Italys Mario Balotelli, De Sciglio and Abate, Japans Honda and Ghanas Essien are all expected to participate. TORONTO -- Nazem Kadri and the Toronto Maple Leafs like to think of the first period as the most important 20 minutes of the game. That worked out well against the Philadelphia Flyers, though making the third period their worst almost didnt. The Leafs blew two leads after the second intermission but managed to rebound to beat the Flyers 4-3 in overtime Saturday night at Air Canada Centre. "It feels good," game-winning goal-scorer Joffrey Lupul said of bouncing back. "We dont want to make a habit of blowing third-period leads. Things are going to happen, other teams are going to make plays and we stuck with it. "There was a good feeling on our bench going into overtime. It seemed like everyone had their composure and were calm and we got the result we needed." The result was the Leafs second straight overtime victory but also the fourth game in five since the Olympic break that involved blowing at least one third-period lead. Toronto had a two-goal lead 3:38 into the first by virtue of goals by Jake Gardiner and Kadri, but that slipped away after Flyers defenceman Kimmo Timonen scored twice. Mason Raymonds go-ahead goal later in the third was then erased when Braydon Coburn beat Jonathan Bernier with plenty of traffic in front. That was the sixth time the Leafs had coughed up a lead in the final period of regulation in the past five games. Gardiner called it "a little bit of a collapse defensively," and it was hard for his teammates to disagree given this disturbing trend. "Obviously thats a little bit of a concern, but thats not something thats drawing our complete attention," Kadri said. "Obviously our D-zone could be a little tighter, but thats something weve got to work on." With 17 games left in the regular season, theres some time to go to work, but most importantly, Leafs players took out of Saturday night the satisfaction of not caving in and managing to pick up two valuable points. Toronto (34-23-8) now has 76 points, two up on the Tampa Bay Lightning for the third playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. "Thats really what we focus on: we show character to stay in games," Kadri said. "Even though its a little bit deflating at times giving up a couple goal-leads in the third period, especially late to force overtime, we stay positive and came out with the right outcome." Coach Randy Carlyle had his issues with the Leafs performance, like when he thought players stopped skating at the end of the second period and how several stayed on the ice for shifts that were too long for his liking. But he, too, took a positive out of regrouping after Coburn tied the score again at the 17:28 mark of the third. "A lot of times when the game gets away from you, your team goes and continues to spiral," Carlyle said. "Well we didnt spiral, in my mind. Maybe if I re-watch it again Ill have a different opinion, but it didnt seem like we were under siege in the third." At the start, the Leafs had the Flyers (33-24-7) under siege. The goals by Gardiner and Kadri came on Torontos first four shots against Steve Mason, who looked shaky for at least the first handful of minutes. From Coburns perspective, it wasnt just Mason, who stopped 32 of the 36 shots he faced. "We had an awful start," he said. "We cant start hockey that way." While Leafs winger Troy Bodie, who helped set up Gardiners goaal as part of his two-assist night, noticed a jump from those two early goals, it put Philadelphia in a major hole that it had to climb out of the rest of the game.dddddddddddd "The first 10 minutes of the game, we didnt play that good and they were able to score two goals, but I think the next 50-54 minutes, we were skating and working and creating chances," said Timonen, who scored his first career goals against the Leafs in his 30th game against them. "We were a better team after that first 10 minutes." Bernier made several memorable saves among his 28 to keep the Flyers from breaking through until the third period. And Mason bounced back to stop 29 consecutive shots between Kadris goal in the first and Raymonds in the third. "He held us in there," Flyers coach Craig Berube said. "I thought he did a real good job, made some big saves. Theyre a good offensive team, they make plays and he came up big." What usually makes the Leafs such a good offensive team is big contributions from James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel. That top line was kept off the score sheet Saturday night, but goals from Gardiner, Lupul, Raymond and Kadri got Toronto two points and could portend good things moving forward. "I think thats what is going to be a key to our success as the season goes on," Lupul said. "As good as our first line has been, it would be asking a lot for them to sustain the pace theyve had these past 10, 15 games. Were going to have to step up and were getting opportunities. Tonight some of them went in for us." The Leafs biggest question mark going into a five-game road trip that starts Monday in Anaheim is how to stop other teams from putting the puck in the net so much, especially while leading in the third period. Lupul credited the Flyers for being a desperate opponent, while also considering it could be partially because of inexperience on the part of the Leafs. "Wed like to do a little better job defending or actually staying on the offence, but sometimes the other team is going to make some plays, too," he said. "We wouldve loved to hang on and not need overtime." It was in overtime that Lupul was able to come through as the hero, scoring on a tic-tac-toe passing play that started with Carl Gunnarsson and Dion Phaneuf. "We finished strong and Neuf and Lupes made a great play on the last goal," Gardiner said. Lupuls 19th goal of the season managed to at least temporarily shift this problem into the background. Or perhaps it wont become a real issue until the Leafs lose one of these games in regulation, as they improved to 24-1-2 when leading after two. "I dont think we want to keep that path going," Gardiner said. "They go both ways sometimes, and tonight we got it. NOTES -- Winger David Clarkson was scratched for the Maple Leafs after a pulled muscle from Fridays practice continued to bother him. Defenceman Paul Ranger was a healthy scratch as Frazer McLaren was called up so the Leafs could dress 12 forwards. ... The Leafs honoured 19 gold- and silver-medal-winning Canadian Olympians prior to the game, including five players from the womens hockey team. ... Steve Downie was scratched for the Flyers because of the flu. Ex-Leafs forward Jay Rosehill took his place, making his biggest impact on the game by fighting McLaren in the second period. 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