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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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For the first time in over a week, the Maple Leafs found their way back to the win column on Wednesday night.

Ahead of facing the Anaheim Ducks at the middle mark of their annual California road trip, the Leafs were losers of three straight, and had dropped four of their last five. But they outlasted a late push by the Ducks to earn a 3-1 win at Honda Centre and improve to 8-5-0 on the season.

Toronto’s game-wining goal came courtesy of Patrick Marleau in the third period, and marked the 100th game-winner of his 20-year career. Marleau is the eighth player in NHL history to hit the milestone.

Unlike many of Toronto’s win this season, Wednesday wasn’t a high-scoring affair where the Leafs were ultimately able to outscore their mistakes en route to victory. After a series of games where Toronto’s neutral zone play was anywhere from average to awful, the Leafs cleaned up some of those issues in middle ice against the Ducks. They were committing too many turnovers again in the second period, but put together a more solid defensive game overall. 

As Toronto has emphasized being better defensively, their once-astonishing goal scoring rate has dried up appreciably and contributed to their recent slide down the standings. They started the season scoring four or more goals in five of their first seven games, but have now scored three or fewer goals in their last six, posting a 2-4 record in that span.

No player was more crucial to Toronto’s success in such a tight-checking game Wednesday than their netminder Frederik Andersen. The former Anaheim Duck, who spent three seasons in net for the team that drafted him 87th overall in 2012 before trading him to Toronto in June 2016, watched from the bench when the Leafs returned to Anaheim last February for the first time since the trade. But on Wednesday, he got the call to face the only other NHL club he’s suited up for.

Andersen was coming off his best performance of the season in a 36-save effort at San Jose on Monday and continued his strong play into Wednesday’s tilt, turning aside 28 of the Ducks’ 29 shots. It’s the first time Andersen has turned in back-to-back games with a save percentage over .900 since mid-October.

To try and halt his team’s losing streak, Mike Babcock blended his lines and pairings more than he has all season prior to facing Anaheim. Marleau moved into the third line centre spot between James van Riemsdyk and Connor Brown, Josh Leivo got back in the lineup flanking Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov and Tyler Bozak moved down to centre the fourth line with Mitch Marner and Matt Martin. On the backend, Connor Carrick drew back in to replace Roman Polak, bumping Nikita Zaitsev to the third pairing and sliding next to Jake Gardiner.

The changes may not have resulted in an offensive explosion, but the balance did lead to positive growth for the team as a 200-foot unit.

Also helping the Leafs cause in regaining their confidence was going up against the injury-ravished Ducks. Anaheim met the Leafs without Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler, Kevin Bieksa and Cam Fowler among others in the lineup. So decimated are the Ducks that Kalle Kossila was tapped to start the game as their top-line centre in just his fourth NHL appearance ever.

Toronto was opportunistic early and got on the board first by capitalizing on an Anaheim turnover near the offensive blue line. van Riemsdyk set up Brown with a great saucer pass cross-crease that Brown put past John Gibson for his fourth of the season. Toronto paces the league in first-period goals with 21. They are also 4-0-0 when Brown scores a goal this season.

The Leafs’ lead would last only 1:15 though, when a fortuitous bounce for Anaheim tied things up. Nick Ritchie sent a blazing shot towards the net from the half boards that Ondrej Kase was able to tip; the puck then bounced off Andreas Borgman’s skate and past a helpless Andersen.

That score, less than 10 minutes into the first, would be the last until early in the third period, when Marleau rushed to the front of the net and pushed a rebound from Ron Hainsey’s point shot past Gibson to give the Leafs a 2-1 lead.

The Ducks thought they’d tied the game with 1:38 left in the third, but the goal was waved off due to a kicking motion on the play. Seconds later, Leo Komarov potted the empty net score to lift the Leafs to their first victory in nine days.

The Leafs are the first to admit they have a ways to go towards being the type of complete team they aspire towards. What they needed most at this juncture was to get winning again, and even better they won by playing fairly well in all three phases of the game. Whether Babcock decides to stick with his blended lines long-term and continuing building confidence from them remains to be seen, but by making his most aggressive lineup changes after just tinkering with a few players, the Leafs showed some response.

 

Takeaways

Back on track

After being held to only three shifts in the final period of Monday’s loss at San Jose, Tyler Bozak’s subsequent demotion to the fourth line lit a fire under the veteran that culminated in one of his best, if not his best, game of the season. That jump was evident early in the first period as Babcock got back to rolling all four of his lines and didn’t dissipate much as the game wore on. Bozak’s natural chemistry with Mitch Marner was on full display in how they set each other up in the offensive zone. Playing with Bozak again seemed to settle Marner down and the sophomore took better care of the puck and made more positive plays with it on his stick than he has been lately. Having him there also seemed to give Babcock more confidence in his fourth line, which he deployed for more than 11 minutes. Bozak led the Leafs in shots on goal with five against the Ducks and finished at 56 per cent in the face-off dot.

Veteran moves

Ron Hainsey doesn’t play a flashy game and often flies under the radar for Leafs, but the importance of his steadying presence on the Toronto blue line can’t be understated. Skating alongside Morgan Rielly, they’ve developed into a solid top pairing for the Leafs, with Hainsey’s vocal leadership helping Rielly makes strides in his own game. Hainsey’s assists on Brown’s and Marleau’s goals were his eighth and ninth helpers of the season, all at even strength. That ties him for second-most five-on-five assists among NHL skaters and most among defencemen. While he’s the only Leafs’ regular who has yet to score a goal this season, Hainsey’s active stick in the defensive zone and ability to read and react with precision when he has the puck has been huge for the Leafs early on. He also saved a goal for the Leafs on Anaheim’s third power play with a crucial shot block. Hainsey finished Wednesday’s game tied for a team-high plus-three with two hits and two blocks.

In for the kill

Toronto’s penalty kill was tested early and often against the Ducks but was up to the task each time. Nikita Zaitsev took the game’s first penalty just 37 seconds into the first period and the kill held Anaheim to just one shot on goal. Toronto was 3-for-3 shorthanded by early in the second frame and 4-for-4 overall. Zach Hyman and Leo Komarov were the stars of the kill as usual, and nearly connected on a great shorthanded chance to give the Leafs back a lead before the end of the first period but Gibson’s poke check thwarted his efforts. Andersen was also a major factor, turning aside 11 shots on Anaheim’s four man advantages. Toronto is now ranked ninth in the league (84.1 per cent) on the kill. Not allowing any power play goals helped make up for the fact the Leafs didn’t get a lot going on their man advantage tries either, finishing the night 0-for-2.

Next game

Toronto wraps up its California swing against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.