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In their return to the Air Canada Centre after a 4 1/2-month absence, the Toronto Maple Leafs picked up where they left off, with another defeat, but at least the club can celebrate the fact that the $4-million they spent to improve ice conditions received a good review.

Most of the players queried about the ice conditions after the Leafs' 3-2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes Thursday night noticed a positive difference.

Like most multipurpose arenas in the NHL, the Air Canada Centre's ice was too soft and rutty and it snowed up too quickly. So they put in a new dehumidification system that saw the installation of two mammoth 56,000-pound dehumidifiers that are supposed to keep the ice hard and fast.

"It wasn't bad at all, it was good," said Leafs forward Darcy Tucker, who batted in a power-play goal midway through the third period to make the score 3-2. "I thought when we skated [Thursday] morning, it was better than it had been in a long time. I'm sure it will take a while for them to tweak things and get it right."

Third-year Toronto forward Alex Steen agreed with his teammate.

"Obviously, it's still early," he said. "It was good. It was the first game and it will take a little longer to get it to perfection, but it was a big improvement, for sure.

"It was better than [the ice during the regular season] last year and it will probably only get better since it's still warm out and it's so fresh. They just laid it out a few days ago."

The new ice system is the same one used in Phoenix's Jobing.com Arena. Former Leafs defenceman Brendan Bell, who played well Thursday night in his battle to land a spot on the Phoenix blueline, said the Air Canada Centre ice was much better than in Phoenix.

"This ice is a lot better than we have in Phoenix," Bell said. "It's the same system, but I know it's weather and the people looking after it. The people around here know what they're doing and it was much better."

The temperature in Toronto Thursday hit a high of 26.

Bell left the Coyotes' dressing room after the game to meet with family and friends who made the trip from Ottawa. He had a few stitches above his left eye, courtesy of an inadvertent Steen high stick. But he didn't mind because he played well and the Coyotes handed the Leafs their second loss in three exhibition matches.

Another former Leaf, goaltender Mikael Tellqvist, also performed well. He made 30 saves, including a pad stop on Toronto centre Matt Stajan's short-handed breakaway attempt in the second period.

"This wasn't really like a preseason game because you want to prove to that other team over there that I can help this team," said Tellqvist, who was traded away by the Leafs last fall in favour of Jean-Sébastien Aubin, who was unable to help Toronto down the stretch and is now fighting for a job with the Los Angeles Kings.

Leafs centre Kyle Wellwood was scheduled to play, but because of "general stiffness," he was sidelined by the training staff. Wellwood, who played in Toronto's 3-2 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, missed 33 games last season after undergoing a sports hernia operation. Maurice didn't appear concerned about Wellwood's latest setback.

"It's like a concussion, and because of his history, we don't want to take any chances," Maurice said.

Daniel Carcillo, 22, made a triumphant return to the area with two goals for Phoenix. He was born in nearby King City and split his time in the OHL with the Sarnia Sting and Mississauga IceDogs.

Originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins, Carcillo was picked up by the Coyotes in a trade deadline deal last February when they shipped tough guy Georges Laraque to Pittsburgh. He finished the season in Phoenix and scored four times in 18 games.