Leafs end skid

Whatever bad habits that slid into the Toronto Maple Leafs’ game in this crazy NHL campaign, they’ve always rallied to protect their first-place seed.

And so it was Thursday in Winnipeg, with the Jets taking yet another run at a Toronto team that had lost five straight. A Winnipeg win and another Saturday would’ve brought the Jets even with a game in hand, but with new toy Nick Foligno in the lineup and Jack Campbell overcoming mistakes by his defence, the Leafs emerged as 5-3 winners. Foligno’s first Leaf point was an assist on Mitch Marner’s empty netter.

That means Toronto will leave town in first, with its next eight games against fourth place or lower clubs before finishing the schedule against the Jets on May 14.

But it was a wild night at Bell MTS Place, with three of the first four shots going in and Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck of the Jets getting the quick hook.

Auston Matthews, with Foligno on his left side, took advantage of wayward Jets coverage 27 seconds into the opening shift. He took Marner’s pass and beat Hellebuyck short side. That was the league-leading 34th of the year for No. 34, his ninth to open a game and was quickly followed by Wayne Simmonds’ first in eight games on a backhander.

That Winnipeg tied it so quickly was less to do with another shaky start by Campbell as own-zone turnovers by Toronto’s two most trusted blueline pairings. Jake Muzzin and Justin Holl allowed Mark Scheifele alone in front to score and then a pressured TJ Brodie tried passing to Morgan Rielly in front of Campbell, only to have it glance off Rielly’s stick and lead to an Andrew Copp tap in.

But on a delayed penalty, Joe Thornton fired on Hellebuyck from long range with Jason Spezza slightly tipping it in. Though the 41-year-old Thornton didn’t become the oldest Leaf in franchise history to score as was first announced, he needs to be in on these vital goals to keep his place as a regular.

That was all for Hellebuyck after six shots, following Campbell getting the yank the last time these teams met. One of backup Laurent Brossoit’s first tests was a centre-ice dump that was going wide and took a surprise bounce back on net.

Campbell played a strong middle period, during which Matthews set up Marner, taming a rolling puck to get it upstairs. But when Muzzin dropped his cue to avoid a stick penalty, it helped open room for Kyle Connor’s goal. That set up a nail-biting third, with Campbell again coming through.

Foligno’s helper was a perfect to end to an eventful 24 hours for the veteran. When the Leafs arrived on Wednesday from Vancouver, Foligno was in the hotel meal room to greet them.

“Definitely a new energy coming in and everybody’s excited,” winger Alex Galchenyuk said.

Six straight losses for the Leafs would have been the first time in team history that a half dozen defeats followed a six-game winning streak.