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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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The Maple Leafs gave up an early two-goal lead to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, but rallied back for a 5-3 victory just hours after restricted free agent William Nylander re-signed with the club. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner continued to lead the way offensively with a goal and two assists between them, and Frederik Andersen held the Wild off with a 37-save performance. It was the fourth straight win for Toronto, moving them to 19-8-0 on the season. 

 

Too close for comfort

For the first 15 minutes of Saturday’s game, the Leafs were seemingly in control of the ice. And then Minnesota pushed back. 

With Toronto leading 2-0 (off Auston Matthews’ power play goal and a 5-on-5 score from Tyler Ennis), the Leafs suddenly began to look slow-footed and the Wild pounced. With only 30.5 seconds remaining in the frame, Eric Staal found a soft spot in Toronto’s defensive zone coverage and capitalized to cut the visitor’s lead in half. 

Minnesota carried that momentum into the second period, where the Leafs were in a giving mood. Toronto turned the puck over one too many times and finally Jordan Greenway (brother of Toronto prospect J.D. Greenway) capitalized with the game’s tying goal. 

Toronto roared back with a response late in the middle period, when Mitch Marner’s point shot through traffic was tipped on the doorstep by Zach Hyman to put Toronto back up 3-2. The lead wouldn’t last though, not with how Wild forward Jason Zucker was pressing. He had a handful of quality scoring chances before finally burying one midway through the period to make it 3-3. 

The Leafs never really gained much traction in the third period, firing only eight shots on goal and being outdueled in possession at 72 per cent for the Wild. In the end, being outplayed didn’t matter to the Leafs’ outcome. 

A deflection goal by Nazem Kadri would put Toronto back on top late in the final period, a swing of good luck for the centre who hit a pair of Wild players in front with the shot before it trickled past Dubnyk. The goal broke an eight-game goal-drought for Kadri, who’s skating now on a line with Andreas Johnsson and Connor Brown, who did a lot of the leg-work setting Kadri’s score up through middle ice. 

Kadri’s goal would stand as the game-winner, with Hyman potting an empty-netter for insurance. It was the second two-goal game for Hyman in his last seven outings. 

Wild crash the crease

The Leafs have leaned heavily on Frederik Andersen in net this season and Saturday’s game was no exception. After starting out well against Minnesota, Toronto’s netminder saw more consistent action than Dubnyk at the other end, and made good with some big saves over the final two periods to give Toronto a chance at two points on a night where they were outshot 41-23.

Andersen had a great save on Zucker in the second period after Mikael Granlund burned the Leafs with his speed into the zone. That entire line with Staal, Granlund and Zucker was all over Toronto in the second frame, but Andersen tracked the puck well and was aggressive in challenging odd-man rushes. 

Facing 18 shots in the third period (to the Leafs’ eight the other way), Andersen was steady against a good cycle game by the Wild, and got lucky with a couple big misses by his opponent’s on open nets. In the end, Andersen stopped 37 shots for a .925 save percentage, his third straight win and third straight game with a save percentage above .900.

Auston and Mitch, at it again

Matthews may not be exactly where he was before a shoulder injury cost him a month’s worth of playing time, but he’s getting closer. 

The 21-year-old registered three points in his first game since Oct. 27 on Wednesday, and picked up where he left off there in Minnesota. Toronto went to the power play early in the first period and Mitch Marner spied Matthews out with a saucer pass he’d have to smack out of the air to bury for his third goal in two nights, and second power play score. Matthews now has 13 goals in 13 games this season.

Saturday also marked the third straight game in which the Leafs have scored on the man advantage, putting them at 4-for-6 in that stretch. That’s the first time they’ve had a power play streak that long since Oct. 29-Nov. 3. On the other side, their penalty kill (of which Marner is part of) went 3-for-3 on the night. 

On top of contributing to that special teams success, Marner is on an offensive roll of his own. With two assists in the victory, Marner registered yet another multi-point game, his fourth in a row and thirteenth of the season. He is tied with Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen for most assists in the NHL (32) and sits third in the NHL in points (38).

Nylander’s back…so who goes?

Saturday was the last day the Leafs could sign restricted free agent winger William Nylander before he became ineligible to play this year, and Toronto got the deal done just under the wire with a six-year, $41.5 million pact. Nylander didn’t suit up against Minnesota but is expected to make his debut sometime next week, which will push one winger out of Toronto’s lineup.

Ennis is one of those skaters potentially on the chopping block, but did his best against the Wild to earn a stay of execution. Midway through the first period, Ennis and his linemates Josh Leivo and Par Lindholm gained the offensive zone, and Ennis banked a goal in top corner over Dubnyk. 

It was Ennis’ fourth goal of the season, and while the stakes were higher than normal for him to perform, there was a personal connection for Ennis in Saturday’s game as well. The 29-year-old had signed with Minnesota as an unrestricted free agent before the 2017-18 season, but never gained any traction, and the Wild bought out his contract last summer before Ennis signed with Toronto as a UFA. His goal was a moment of redemption as well as an opportunity to show how effective he can be in a fourth-line role for the Leafs on any given night. He finished with one shot and two hits in 9:12 time on ice. 

Blue and White Trending

Tracking Leafs’ trends all season long

The Leafs are now 12-3-0 this season when being outshot

Next game

Toronto will meet their Atlantic Division rivals in Buffalo on Tuesday. ​