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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – Two days after a disappointing performance against the rival Boston Bruins, the Maple Leafs’ top line showed up in full force Monday to produce one of their finest efforts of the season – but their win over the Anaheim Ducks may prove to be costly after No. 1 goalie Frederik Andersen was injured, left the game and did not return.  

Ducks forward Corey Perry struck Andersen in the head with his left skate while manoeuvring through his crease in the second period, forcing the starter out of the game. Backup Curtis McElhinney replaced Andersen with the Ducks leading 3-2, and while Auston Matthews and his linemates may not have needed any more incentive to perform, they still found some after using Saturday’s 4-1 defeat to the Bruins, the team they're chasing in the Eastern Conference standings, as distinct motivation for Monday’s game.

 “Obviously, when a big piece of your team like Fred goes down in the middle of a game, everyone wants to rally around and be better for one another,” said Matthews, whose line combined for five goals and eight points in a 7-4 victory. “But Mac (McElhinney) did really well (coming in). When we broke out fast and got the puck back behind (the Ducks’ defence) we were kind of able to control the play.”

Leafs coach Mike Babcock said after the game he believes Andersen is “fine … we’ll see what goes on tomorrow.” No further information on Andersen’s condition was made available.

Even before puck drop against the Ducks at the Air Canada Centre, Matthews, William Nylander and Zach Hyman didn’t hide the fact they were “fired up” to avenge a bad night in Beantown, where Patrice Bergeron’s line got the better of them in every way. Two nights later, it was the league-leading fifth time this season that Toronto has scored at least seven goals in a game.

“It’s amazing; I don’t think I’ve had two breakaway goals in a game since I was a little kid,” said Nylander. “It was a bounce back game [for us], and when you’re able to dominate like we did today, you’re very happy.”

The game itself was a bit of a throwback for the Leafs, who hadn’t been in an old fashioned, run-and-gun offensive shootout for some time. Both of Nylander’s goals were facilitated by terrific passes from Jake Gardiner, who somehow found Nylander alone in open ice on each occasion. It was the second three-point night of the season for Nylander, and the third for Gardiner.

Not to be outdone by his linemate, Matthews also tallied two goals, and Hyman iced the win with an empty-netter in the final minute. After posting an abysmal 21 per cent possession in Boston, Matthews rebounded at 75 per cent against the Ducks’ checking line.

“Definitely a good bounce back game for us,” said Matthews. “Obviously, our line wasn’t happy with our performance on Saturday so it was a good start for us, and when everybody gets going, we’re a pretty tough team to compete with.

“We showed some resiliency, stayed with it and got a good two points.”

Indeed, there was no shortage of action at either end of the ice as the teams swapped goals in the final 40 minutes. With Toronto leading 1-0 after the first on the strength of Matthews’ first goal, Ryan Getzlaf tied the game for Anaheim just 43 seconds into the middle frame, and from there the clubs went back and forth until the final whistle. Before that middle period was over, Nylander and Rickard Rakell would each add their first of multiple goals in the game.

Going into Monday’s contest, the Leafs were expecting one similarity between Boston and Anaheim – physicality. Toronto was rattled by the Bruins’ bruising style and relentless forecheck, something the Matthews’ line was determined not to let happen again. By viewing the heavier style as what they’ll see in playoff contests and making the necessary adjustments to be successful, Matthews thought the response was “real positive” for his team as a whole.

Babcock agreed, and even boiled down their success after that deflating Boston game to something even simpler.

“They scored,” said Babcock. “They played against a real good checking line and it didn’t affect them. That line tried to play physical with them early, didn’t let that bother them. They just played. For whatever reason we didn’t have legs the other night, so when they played against Bergy’s line they didn’t have much success…tonight they were skating and working and all three guys were very, very competitive. They played good.”

TAKEAWAYS

Put me in, coach

When Andersen was injured by Perry’s skate, McElhinney wasn’t even paying attention. Tracking faceoffs for Babcock on the bench, he looked up to see his goalie partner face down on the ice; minutes later he was warming up in the crease with 6:15 left in the second period. It was the first time all season the Leafs have had a goalie change during the game, with neither netminder having been pulled over the first 54 games of the season. McElhinney said he felt sluggish out of the gate coming in cold, but his teammates helped out with a couple quick goals to give the Leafs a 4-3 lead to carry into the third. With a one-goal advantage to start the period, the Leafs didn’t get to enjoy it for long. It didn’t take long for Rackell to tie things up once again, slipping a puck past McElhinney while practically parallel to the net early in the third. From there, though, McElhinney and the Leafs shut the door on the Ducks. The goaltender was tested repeatedly from in tight, where Anaheim’s top forwards like to set up shop, but he was tracking the puck effectively and stayed aggressive with his stick, poking pucks to the outside. McElhinney was awarded the win, his sixth of the season, in a 15-save performance.

High on Hyman

During his first season and a half in the NHL, Hyman has taken his share of criticism for playing on the team’s top line. He’s an elite forechecker, but lacks the same explosive offensive abilities of Matthews and Nylander – which is exactly why Babcock insists Hyman belongs there. Babcock likes that Hyman is there to dig out and dish pucks back to his fellow sophomores, but this season he has added even more point production to his game. At Monday’s morning skate, Babcock praised Hyman for his contributions to the Leafs’ 5-on-5 scoring (he’s third on the team with 25 points, behind Matthews with 32 and Nylander with 30), an area he’s rarely noticed for. So it was fitting that, with an assist on Matthews’ opening goal, Hyman set a new career-high for points (29) after netting 28 last season. By comparison, Hyman was eighth on the Leafs’ last season in even-strength points (24) after 82 games. While his work ethic has never been in question, Hyman is doing a better job this season of getting into the right spots on the ice to take passes from his linemates and a better knowledge of their tendencies leads to fewer miscues with the puck. Of all the things that have changed for the Leafs offensively this season, Hyman’s place on the top line hasn’t changed for any significant stretch, and doesn’t project to any time soon. He ended the night with one goal, one assist and 75 per cent possession.

Penalty trouble

The penalty kill had been the more consistent of Toronto’s specialty teams this season, and Roman Polak was inserted back into the lineup in part because the Leafs’ penalty kill had allowed two power-play goals on Saturday in Boston, which was the second time in five games Toronto has given up multiple extra-man scores in a game. By comparison, that had happened only three times in the Leafs’ previous 49 games. So when Toronto killed off Anaheim’s first two power plays on Monday it looked like those units were rounding back into form, but a lack of discipline eventually did them in. Babcock had mentioned after the morning skate he thought the Ducks’ power play was better than the stats suggested (81.3 per cent coming into the game), and the third time was indeed the charm for Anaheim with the extra man when Ondrej Kase tallied his 13th of the season in the second period. The Leafs’ penalty kill hasn’t played with the same confidence in recent games that they have earlier in the year – they’re more disorganized and struggle to clear the zone. Even with Nikita Zaitsev, Ron Hainsey and Polak healthy and back in the lineup, the Leafs can put less pressure on their kill by being smarter with their sticks and taking fewer unnecessary penalties. Anaheim had nine shots on three power-play chances, with Toronto finishing 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. Monday marked the first time the Leafs have allowed power-play goals in consecutive games since Dec. 28-29.

Next game

Toronto continues its homestand against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday. ​