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The Toronto Maple Leafs say they have no plans to stretch their luck tonight against the New York Rangers.

In three of their past five games, the Leafs fell behind 2-0 before coming back to tie the score. They won two of those and still got a point in the other when they lost in a shootout to the Anaheim Ducks.

Even though the Leafs are coming off a comeback win against one of the best goaltenders in the world, Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils, they are not counting on similar heroics against another of the NHL's best goaltenders, Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers.

"The plan is not to be down two-nothing [tonight]," Leafs centre Matt Stajan said. "We're going to make sure we have a good start. Our starts have got to be better.

"We've got to stay out of the [penalty] box and get some traffic in front of the net because we've got a world-class goaltender in there."

Actually, says head coach Ron Wilson, the Leafs' recent slow starts can be blamed on some swollen heads. At 4-3-3 so far this season, the Leafs are much better than management advertised and some of the players may be taking that to heart.

"We've started a lot of games thinking we're better than we are and not quite working on some things," Wilson said.

Still, the Leafs have acquitted themselves well over all, especially in the past week with three wins in their last four games. The shootout win over Brodeur and the Devils was most impressive because it came on the back end of back-to-back, home-and-road games. The Leafs have to do the same thing this weekend, as they host the Rangers tonight and then fly to Raleigh to meet the Carolina Hurricanes late tomorrow afternoon.

Wilson has long said it will take a while for his young players to get into the physical shape they need to play the up-tempo game he demands. But their win over the Devils showed the Leafs are getting close to the necessary standard, although by tomorrow night they will have played four games in one week.

"We're gradually working our way into better shape," the coach said. "The hard part is I have in mind what pace and tempo I want us to play at, so it's hard to play four games in a week.

"The team shocked me the other night with its tempo in [the second of] back-to-back games. Both the New York Rangers and Carolina like to play at a high tempo so this will be a good test."

Wilson does not plan any major lineup changes against the Rangers aside from the usual shuffling of his defencemen. He will stick with the new third-and fourth-line combinations he tried in the Devils game. Dominic Moore will remain as the fourth-line centre between Ryan Hollweg and Jamal Mayers, while John Mitchell will play between Alexander Steen and Jason Blake.

Game Sheet

TONIGHT'S GAME: At home against New York Rangers, 7 p.m.

TV: CBC

Notes: With the Leafs playing their second back-to-back set of games this week, head coach Ron Wilson said he wouldn't mind giving backup goaltender Curtis Joseph a start. But he doesn't think No. 1 goalie Vesa Toskala is in danger of fatigue. "[Toskala's] in a bit of a rhythm right now and we're on a roll," Wilson said. … Ryan Hollweg was sporting a nasty shiner after fighting Devils forward Michael Rupp. He has played every game since returning from an NHL suspension last week and Wilson said he will continue to play as long as he avoids the hits from behind that caused the suspension.

UP NEXT: Tomorrow at Carolina, 5 p.m.

TV: Leafs TV