NEW YORK, 23 January 2004 — The Toronto Maple Leafs continued to stake their claim to the NHL’s best record with a 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.

The Leafs, who have not finished first overall since the 1962-63 season, have now amassed 63 points in 49 games, tying them for top spot with the surging Colorado Avalanche.

Alexei Ponikarovsky was the scoring hero, netting two third-period goals to go with Craig Johnson’s second-period tally.

Trent Whitfield and Peter Bondra replied for the Caps, who were nursing a five-game points streak. Ponikarovsky has a fondness for the Caps, with three of his four goals this season coming against Washington.

The Leafs have continued to roll despite a slew of injuries, with forward Darcy Tucker the latest casualty. He had left eye surgery on Wednesday and will be out indefinitely.

In Sunrise, Florida, Alex Tanguay notched his third goal of the game at 14:19 of the final period to lift the Colorado Avalanche to a 6-5 win over the Florida Panthers. Tanguay tipped in a shot from the point for his first hat trick of the season.

Colorado, which rallied from a 3-0 first-period deficit, also got goals from Milan Hejduk, Joe Sakic and Andrei Nikolishin.

Stephen Weiss, Juraj Kolnik and Pavel Trnka scored to give Florida the early edge.

Valeri Bure and Marcus Nilson closed out the scoring for the Panthers.

In St. Paul, the Minnesota Wild scored twice in the final 16 seconds to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2. Jim Dowd and Richard Park got the late goals three seconds apart, setting a new NHL standard by one second.

It was Chicago’s 16th road game without a win (0-15-0-1), matching a club record for ineptitude that dates back to 1954.

In Columbus, Manny Malhotra notched two third-period goals, one a spectacular diving effort, as the Blue Jackets surprised the St. Louis Blues 3-1. Todd Marchant also tallied for Columbus, with Chris Pronger getting the Blues’ lone goal.

In East Rutherford, Jeff O’Neill scored late in the middle period as the Carolina Hurricanes upset the New Jersey Devils 2-1.

Josef Vasicek got Carolina’s other goal, with Jeff Friesen finding the mark for New Jersey to deny Kevin Weekes a shutout.

In Phoenix, the surging San Jose Sharks got goals from Scott Hannan, Nils Ekman, Jonathan Cheechoo and Alexander Korolyuk in a 4-2 win over the Coyotes.

In Vancouver, Markus Naslund netted his second goal of the night with just 38 seconds remaining in overtime as the Canucks rallied to edge the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4.

Todd Bertuzzi notched his second goal 13:37 into the third period to force extra time.

In Anaheim, Vaclav Prospal scored with a minute on the clock to lift the Mighty Ducks into a 2-2 tie with the Detroit Red Wings.

Petr Sykora got Anaheim’s other goal, with Pavel Datsyuk and Mathieu Schneider scoring a period apart for the Red Wings.