Andersen hurt in Leafs win over Ducks
Goalie to be reassessed before next game
Frederik Andersen was shaken, Leaf Nation rattled before Toronto rolled over the Anaheim Ducks on a manic Monday at the ACC.
The 7- 4 home win was accomplished without Leaf MVP Andersen, knocked out halfway through the game when Corey Perry’s left skate struck him under the mask as he came across the crease and became airborne stumbling over Toronto defenceman Ron Hainsey.
Andersen was not cut, but shed his mask and buried his head in his hands before heading to the dressing room. Perry was in the midst of a season-high four-point night, an all-out skills competition between the No. 1 lines on both teams, which accounted for the first five goals.
Curtis McElhinney, who played two of the past four games and won both, came on in relief with Anaheim up 3-2.
William Nylander and Auston Matthews were all over Ryan Miller at the other end.
Toronto plays Nashville on Wednesday, giving Andersen a day to be reassessed. The Leafs might have to call up AHL goalie of the month Garret Sparks, though McElhinney has now played three of the past five games for Toronto, owing to backto- backs and allowed only a Rickard Rakell tying goal in the third.
Andersen had some close calls in the first period, including a blast off the post that came right out to the slot and some errant pucks around his net the Ducks could not convert. He made 16 saves in that frame while Toronto had to kill minors to defencemen Nikita Zaitsev and Travis Dermott.
With goalie John Gibson skating, but not yet back, the Ducks turned to Miller. He has a long list of accomplishments against the Leafs from his days in Buffalo, with an overall career mark of 33-193 coming in.
However, Miller lost track of Matthews on a wraparound, with the Leafs leading scorer able to sweep past Kevin Bieksa and the Ducks’ net to open the scoring. Nylander notched his clubbest 29th assist, then had two goals, including the goahead marker in the third. Matthews had the late insurance, his 25 th of the campaign as the Leafs opened a five-game home stand.
Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle was sounding the alarm earlier in the day that his team was not working hard enough to get in position for goals, the team off ence ranked among the worst in the West. They remedied that to start the second period, throwing Nazem Kadri’s checking line on its heels and all their big guns combining on the goal, Perry and Rakell to Ryan Getzlaf.
Those three clicked again at 8: 23 of the second, with Perry and Ondrej Kase later flailing at a loose puck that Andersen couldn’ t corral, before the latter made it 3- 2. That came with just four seconds to go in a Leo Komarov minor, but that was enough punishment for the Leafs who came up with their own man- advantage goal after a needless Nick Ritchie foul. Mitch Marner was set up in business for his 10th goal and 14th power play point.
Some chippy play after the Andersen incident saw Komarov take a shot at defenceman Josh Manson and come back through the slot where he found himself in position to tip a Jake Gardiner shot for a goal. Three helpers gave Gardiner 13 in the past nine games, while Komarov scored his first since Dec. 19 and first since getting dropped to the fourth line.
It was Gardiner’s stretch pass to Nylander for the latter’s 12th of the season and the winner.