Leafs double up the H abs
The Maple Leafs have relied on Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner for the bulk of their offence this season. Toronto’s supporting cast showed the team’s lesser lights are also capable of contributing in big moments.
Justin Holl and Ilya Mikheyev scored their first goals of the campaign 42 seconds apart early in Wednesday’s third period after
Travis Dermott also opened his account to tie the game 1-1 as the Leafs recovered from a rocky start to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 4-2.
Toronto fell behind when Josh Anderson buried the home side’s opening salvo, but rebounded with Dermott picking a corner on Carey Price, Holl blasting one upstairs, and Mikheyev bagging another off the rush.
“That’s all really positive stuff for us,” said Matthews, who saw his eight-game goal streak come to an end. “Those guys start feeling it, they get confidence and they start rolling. “It was a huge win.”
Zach Hyman, into an empty net off an assist from Matthews that extended the star centre’s point streak to 11 games, helped set up Mikheyev’s goal before icing things for Toronto (11-2-1), which got 33 saves from Frederik Andersen. Jake Muzzin added three assists and John Tavares had two as the Leafs improved to 8-0-1 over their last nine games. Marner, meanwhile, saw his eight-game point streak come to an end.
Toronto now holds a five-point lead over its Original Six rival atop the NHL and all-Canadian North Division standings after a hardfought victory inside the Bell Centre, which would have been rocking in a normal season, but instead remains devoid of fans because of COVID-19 restrictions.
“It’s massive,” Tavares said of getting contributions up and down the roster. “We’ve got guys throughout our lineup that can contribute offensively, I think there’s no doubt about that.”
Tomas Tatar had the other goal for Montreal (8-3-2), which got 20 stops from Price.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge,” Anderson said. “I thought we set the tempo at the start of the game and overall played pretty good.
“A few bounces went their way and they capitalized.”
The Canadiens have a quick turnaround with the Edmonton Oilers waiting in the wings tonight in the second half of a back-to-back, while the Leafs will head home to prepare for Saturday’s rematch with Montreal — the third of 10 meetings between the clubs in 2021.