TORONTO (AP) - Curtis Joseph overcame a shaky start to beat his former team.
Paul Mara, Geoff Sanderson, Ladislav Nagy and Fredrik Sjostrom scored goals to help the Phoenix Coyotes overcome a three-goal, first-period deficit in a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
Wayne Gretzky coached his first game in Toronto, and Joseph, playing his first in Toronto since leaving in 2002, made 25 saves.
``The first period wasn't the script that I wanted, but fortunately, the ending was,'' Joseph said. ``There was a lot of emotion out there. I grew up in the area.''
Fans cheered Joseph when he was announced for the starting lineup. Leafs fans were stunned when he signed with Detroit in 2002.
Gretzky and his father, Walter, received loud ovations when shown on the videoboard.
Gretzky attended his grandmother's funeral Wednesday, three weeks after the death of his mother, then returned to the bench to lead the Coyotes to a 2-1 shootout win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.
After Toronto's Jason Allison, Carlo Colaiacovo and Tomas Kaberle scored power-play goals in the first, Mara and Sanderson scored within 16 seconds of each other in the second period, and Nagy and Sjostrom scored 13 seconds apart early in the third.
Nagy tied it at 3 after Matt Jones missed badly on his shot from the point. The puck deflected off the boards to Nagy in front.
Sanderson put the Coyotes in front at 4:15, backhanding a shot into an open net after Sanderson fired a slap shot off goalie Ed Belfour's pad.
``We don't like to be put under the pressure to score three goals, but it's a relief that we can do it when we have to on a real huge stage like this and in an important time of our season,'' Sanderson said.
Allison beat Joseph with a wrist shot at 9:28 of the first, Colaiacovo redirected Mats Sundin's shot in at 1:42, and Kaberle's shot in front of the blue line made it 3-0 with 36 seconds left in the period.
``Mentally, we weren't very good,'' Toronto's Kyle Wellwood said. ``This wasn't very good.''
Colaiacovo sent Mike Comrie flying with a check in the second. Comrie went after Colaiacovo, but the young defenseman wouldn't fight.
Everyone but the goalies tussled. Phoenix's Steve Gainey and Toronto's Jason Allison received 10-minute misconducts.
Notes: The season-high crowd of 19,520 booed the Maple Leafs in the final seconds. ... Toronto defenseman Bryan McCabe missed his second straight game because of a strained groin. ... Toronto forward Nik Antropov returned after missing a month with a knee injury.
