STARS SHINE DOWN
Johnsson leaves early with knee injury, MNM line falters
Leaf Auston Matthews tries to control the puck after a save by Stars goalie Ben Bishop in the second period of Thursday night’s game at Scotiabank Arena. Matthews scored his 41st goal of the season, but the Stars won 3-2. Game centre,
The Dallas Stars scored early in all three periods and used a neutral-zone shutdown game — one of the best in the NHL — to frustrate the Maple Leafs on home ice.
The Leafs also lost forward Andreas Johnsson with a knee injury after just three shifts in a 3-2 defeat at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night.
“Andreas has a knee injury and it’s not going to be short term,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game.
Keefe cancelled Friday’s practice, saying his players were either too banged up or low on energy after a flu bug that struck throughout the week.
One bright spot was the return of No. 1 goalie Frederik Andersen after missing five games with a neck injury. Some defensive lapses, though, left the Leafs in a hole.
The first two Dallas goals were scored by Denis Gurianov, 80 seconds into the first period, and Radek Faksa, 24 seconds into the second. Gurianov beat Andersen on the Stars’ first shot of the game, the seventh time this season that the Leafs have allowed a goal on the first shot they faced. Toronto native Andrew Cogliano, playing his 1,000th NHL game, picked up an assist on Faksa’s goal.
Auston Matthews, on a power play, scored his 41st goal of the season to cut the deficit to 2-1 after two. Early in the third, though, Leaf John Tavares took a tripping penalty — one of five penalties assessed to the home side — in the offensive zone and Tyler Seguin scored his 12th of the season, ending a 17-game drought just 81 seconds into the period.
Despite a 31-19 edge in shots, the Leafs couldn’t really solve the Stars’ blanket checking.
“You do have to adapt, and I don’t think we did a good job of that,” Keefe said. “It was the opposite in Dallas (a 5-3 win on Jan. 29). We played with the lead and they had to open it up, so it was a much different game. We gave them the lead every period tonight and that makes it tough.”
Matthews said facing a steady dose of hard checking could pay off down the road.
“Teams play tight, especially against us,” Matthews said. “They’re clogging the middle … It’s good for us to play games like this. It shows us what’s coming at us for the rest of the season.”
> MNM breakup: Keefe broke up the line of Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner after the first period, despite a 14-3 edge in shot attempts. The unit generated few good chances in the mix. By the second period, Keefe dropped Nylander back to his former spot alongside Tavares and Alex Kerfoot. Zach Hyman rejoined
Matthews and Marner. Matthews responded with three shots on net in the second, including the power-play marker, after none in the first. He finished the game with 27:05 in ice time, Marner 26:39 — both career highs. Asked if the big three will line up together again, Keefe said: “Yeah, I can see it.”
> Andersen watch: Andersen said he felt good going into the game, but should have stopped the first two Stars goals: “I felt good … (but) it would have been nice to come up with the win.”
> Fight club: Matthews’ 41st goal marked a career high. After the game, though, he was more eager to talk about the secondperiod fight between teammate Kyle Clifford and Jamie Oleksiak. “I’ve said it’s something we’ve missed the past couple of years here,” Matthews said of Clifford’s contribution since a trade with the Kings. “He’s made an impact from his first game here.”
> Up next: Saturday at Ottawa, 7 p.m.