Andersen comes up big; Leafs down Wild
Toronto goalie makes 35 saves in 4-2 victory at Air Canada Centre
TORONTO — Frederik Andersen made 35 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Minnesota Wild, 4-2, in National Hockey League action Wednesday night.
Nazem Kadri, Patrick Marleau, Connor Carrick and Connor Brown scored for the Maple Leafs (10-7-0).
Jason Zucker scored twice for the Wild (5-7-2), who have lost three in a row. Devan Dubnyk stopped 15 shots in defeat.
Leafs coach Mike Babcock shifted Marleau to the middle with star centre Auston Matthews out dayto-day with an upper-body injury. Matthews was scratched for the first time since being drafted in 2016, playing in 98 straight games including all 82 last year in his Calder Trophy winning campaign.
Both teams had trouble getting their offences going in the early stages of the game, with neither having a real scoring chance in the first 10 minutes.
Toronto went the first 8:49 without a shot on net despite having a power-play opportunity only two minutes into the contest.
Kadri finally opened the scoring when a lucky bounce or two benefited Toronto at 12:56 of the first. Morgan Rielly’s point shot missed the net, but the puck ricocheted off the end boards back out front and hit Dubnyk in the leg before caroming into the net. It was announced as Rielly’s goal but replay showed Kadri got a piece of Rielly’s shot with his stick and was eventually credited with his ninth goal of the season.
Toronto led 2-1 after 40 minutes despite being outshot 23-12.
The Leafs caught a break with 9:37 to play in regulation when Andersen appeared to tweak his right arm and was in discomfort, but he stayed in the game after taking a TV timeout to speak with the training staff at the bench. NOTES: A moment of silence and video tribute was held pre-game for former Toronto Blue Jays all-star pitcher Roy Halladay, who died Tuesday when his private plane crashed. He was 40.