Jets come through in a pinch
Winnipeg uses odd-man rushes to push past short-manned Toronto
Here come the Jets.
The Maple Leafs have a real adversary in the NHL’s North Division, with the Winnipeg Jets breathing down their necks for first place after a 5-2 win at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night.
Toronto’s lead over Winnipeg is down to three points after its defence broke down and goaltender Jack Campbell was chased in the first period.
The Leafs, losers of their past three games, now head out on a five-game road trip with two games in Vancouver and three in Winnipeg.
Toronto opened nicely, with Alex Galchenyuk scoring off a nice feed from Mitch Marner in the game’s fourth minute. The on-ice officials did not notice the goal — the puck exited the net quickly — and the game went on for 41 seconds before the goal horn sounded.
The Leafs had a glorious opportunity to put more pressure on the Jets but failed to score on a 5-on-3 power play in which they had 1:11 with a two-man advantage.
“I think it’s obvious the impact the power play could have had on the game, but didn’t get it done,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said.
The Jets, spurred by their penalty kill, answered with three straight goals over a 3:09 span. And in a puzzling display, the Leafs defence kept pinching the offensive-zone boards and the Jets took advantage and turned the game around.
Winnipeg’s three-goal blitz included a power-play goal from Nik Ehlers and a Kyle Connor break 27 seconds later. Mark Scheifele scored after that. Both even-strength goals came against the normally reliable defensive pair of Justin Holl and Jake Muzzin.
“They win a faceoff on their power play and … score (nine seconds) after that, and we lost structure to their best players,” Keefe said. “Those were freebies they didn’t give to us.”
Keefe, already without Auston Matthews (wrist problem) and William Nylander (quarantine), mixed his lines in the second period, with Jason Spezza joining John Tavares. Spezza, playing his 100th regular-season game for the Leafs, set up Tavares for his 14th goal.
But Ehlers outmuscled Marner in a third-period battle for a loose puck, then reached with one hand on his stick to backhand his second goal of the game. Ehlers now has five goals in six games against Toronto this season.
Thursday’s win was the Jets 16th on the road this season, best in the NHL. á The Soup curdles: Campbell has been celebrated for a few weeks; now he’s facing adversity for the first time. He has two straight losses after a recordsetting 11 consecutive wins to start the season. And he has a sub .900 save percentage in four of his past six games.
“I don’t beat myself up like I used to,” Campbell said. “I analyze it, I work through it. We have a great team here and that’s the biggest thing … I believe in this team.”
Keefe said he pulled Campbell partly because the team broke down in front of him and partly because the goalie was having an off night. “We didn’t take care of him on a couple of goals, and he’s taken care of us all season, so I thought I’d just give him the rest of the night off.” á Power outage: Toronto’s power play has now scored just one goal in its last 42 opportunities. “We’ve tried different things, mixing it up,” Keefe said, “so now the focus is to simplify things and focus on the details, and make sure we get pucks on the net.” á Russian is coming: The Leafs signed 2020 first-rounder Rodion Amirov to a three-year, entry-level contract. The 19-yearold is expected to report to Toronto and work with the Leafs development staff before returning to Ufa in the KHL next season. He had nine goals and four assists in 39 games this year.