"Remember the theme from that old cop show Barreta, the part about 'don't do the crime if you can't do the time'.

The Maple Leafs must be watching re-runs, as they've gone from one of the most irresponsible NHL teams and the worst in penalty-killing, to model citizens. From New Year's Day approaching this Thursday's match in Philadelphia, the Leafs killed 24 straight penalties and have earned gold stars for general behaviour, moving up among the 10 least short-handed clubs in the league.

"We pay attention to that very well," defenceman Cody Franson said on Tuesday night after two more notches on the penalty-killing unit's belt. "Staying out of the box is one of the details. We try really hard to focus on playing within the rules, not putting ourselves in a bad situation.""