A LAST-MINUTE CHRISTMAS GIFT
Toronto heads into Christmas break with four straight wins
Kasperi Kapanen scored in overtime, after John Tavares’ goal with eight seconds left in the third forced the extra period, and the Maple Leafs kept their good times rolling into Christmas with a 5-4 victory at Scotiabank Arena. Kapanen’s shot snuck past Jonathan Bernier with 3:07 left in OT as the Leafs won their fourth in a row, this time in heart-stopping, comefrom-behind action. Tavares tipped in a point shot from Jake Gardiner, who’d fumbled and bumbled all night and brought out the boo-birds. The Leafs head into the Christmas break firmly entrenched in second place overall, and second in their own division, behind the Tampa Bay Lightning. If the playoffs started today, the Leafs would have home-ice advantage over the Buffalo Sabres in the first round. Leafs coach Mike Babcock didn’t want to get all wrapped up in expectations, when asked if the team is about where he thought they’d be by the Christmas break: “We’re just trying to get better every day,” he said prior to the game.” Everybody wants to go home for Christmas feeling good. We’ve got to learn how to play right all the time, just over and over and over. You’ve got to come and put your work boots on and wear the other team out. When we play right, we’re a load to handle. When we don’t and we get carried away, we can get frustrated fast.”
Firsts: Leaf Frederik Gauthier scored his first goal of the season in his 28th game. It was a nice play by Trevor Moore that helped set it up — Moore’s first NHL point in his first game after getting the call with Tyler Ennis suffering a broken ankle on Saturday. á Streaks: With a goal and an assist, Morgan Rielly extended his points streak to five games (four goals and eight assists) … John Tavares is also on a fivegamer, assisting on Rielly’s goal. He has five goals, four assists.
Mix it up: Perhaps in an attempt to get him going, Babcock put William Nylander on left wing with Auston Matthews and Kapanen. The line opened the scoring just 27 seconds into the game, but the Leafs ran into penalty trouble and fell behind 3-1. By the second period, Nylander was back on the right side with Nazem Kadri and Connor Brown, but he had one of his strongest games in terms of playmaking and creating chances.
Spirit of giving: The Wings led 2-1 after 20 minutes thanks to Gardiner’s unforced errors — two bad passes. Or generous giveaways in the spirit of the season. The first went to Filip Hronek, whose shot needed a lucky bounce off Nikita Zaitsev to tie the game 1-1. The other set up extended zone time for Detroit and had the Leafs on their heels with Michael Rasmussen ultimately scoring.
For what it’s worth: The Leafs’ favourite Christmas movies are Home Alone and Elf. Up next: Practice on Thursday to prepare for Friday’s game in Columbus.