Leafs drop Jets in overtime
TORONTO — In a game billed as the Calder Cup — the final rookie of the year trophy head-to-head between Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine — ill will between the Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets in a playoff-charged atmosphere proved the real rivalry.
Too bad these Canadian teams can’t meet in a series other than a Cup final, as they played a second hard-hitting 5-4 game after an October overtime home win for Winnipeg. There were plenty of scoring chances all night at the rocking Air Canad Centre, some of them generated by grit, others by sloppy play.
Laine saw his rookie scoring lead shrink to two points the end of the evening as Matthews assisted on Jake Gardiner’s 3-on-3 overtime winner for his third assist to Laine’s two goals. The two points were vital to the up and down Leafs in their playoff pursuit, sitting out of the top eight when the night began.
The Calder voting debate will go on, though Matthews was kicking himself after a last-minute regulation penalty, for sticking Nik Ehlers.
William Nylander, who sits fourth in freshman scoring behind injured Leaf Mitch Marner, had his own two point night, burying a Matthews bank off the backboard to make it 4-4. That also extended a team high 19 power play points.
In one of the most bizarre finishes to a period, the Leafs tied it 3-3 in the second with a last-minute power play goal, a Nylander saucer pass to Leo Komarov. But trying to put an exclamation point on the period, Nazem Kadri blasted Ben Chariot into the boards. That brought Dustin Byfuglien off the bench with the intent to retaliate — and with teammates distracted by thought of Big Buff devouring Kadri, Laine came down Main St. with two seconds still on the clock.
A Finnish national scored the first goal, but not Laine and not in a conventional way. Komarov, from deep in the corner exposed the injury-riddled Jets’ defence by firing from a bad angle at 1:02. In a kneeling position for some reason, Connor Hellebuyck had it rattle between his pads and in.
While the Leafs are better offensively with the injured Mitch Marner, the line juggling has resulted in Josh Leivo as an excellent addition to the Komarov-Kadri shutdown unit. Leivo assisted on Komarov’s first goal, then in the second period chipped it to Kadri as two Jets converged on him. When the open Kadri pirouetted to pot his 25th, it was Leivo’s eight point in nine games.
Frederik Andersen had been fortunate that Adam Lowry didn’t jam in a rebound on his first test of the game right after Komarov’s opening shocker, but Laine certainly made the most of his first good chance. With Mark Scheifele sending the puck across, Laine one-timed a drive through Nikita Zaitsev’s ’s legs and past Andersen. The Leaf goalie faced xx shots, while Hellebuyck was much busier.
Kadri tried to bring down grizzly bear Byfuglien behind the Jets net and was sent to the box, during which the same Jet uncorked a blueline shot that popped out to Bryan Little for a goal to give him 26 points against in Toronto in as many games. Winnipeg thought they’d made it 3-1, but replays showed Byfuglien high-sticked a point shot in with 5.1 seconds remaining in the period.
Laine reached 30 goals, Matthews has 28, but goals don’t guarantee a Calder. In 1985-86, Wendel Clark had 34 (still the Leaf rookie record for now with Matthews closing fast). But Clark only had 11 assists and his Calder support seemed to erode in polling beyond the Eastern Time Zone.
Calgary defenceman Gary Suter, who deserved to be in the running for playing a harder position for a rookie, received 35 first place votes to Clark’s 18, leaving some Leaf officials privately wondering if owner Harold Ballard’s antics not cost Clark some votes. Compare that to 1994, when Teemu Selanne’s 76-goal year in Winnipeg earned him all 50 first place nods, leaving a group including Leaf goalie Felix Potvin (who had 15 second place votes) in his dust.
The Jets have had a productive Eastern swing, with points in all three games enterting Tuesday. Andersen did make a couple of saves that underlined his value, including a stretch pad stop on Blake Wheeler in the middle frame. While the Jets blueline was weakened by injuries and a twogame suspension issued Monday to Jacob Trouba, Leaf coach Mike Babcock wanted some muscle to counter Byfuglien and their big forwards. That led to Marlie callup Frederik Gauthier activated for fourth-line centre duty with Ben Smith sent to the press box. There are still no changes on defence where Martin Marincin and the yet-to-be-seen Alexey Marchenko are growing old on the vine.
The Leafs complete the week’s homestand with the Rangers on Thursday and Montreal on Saturday.