The Maple Leafs had their bubble burst, as they blew a two goal third period lead and allowed the game winner on a flubbed dump in by Ron Hainsey with 6:56 left in regulation to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 win at the Air Canada Center Thursday night.
Ryan Murphy, Eric Staal and Hainsey were the goal scorers and Cam Ward made 24 saves for the Hurricanes, who move to 3-2-3 on the season.
Joffrey Lupul and Josh Leivo scored for Toronto and Jonathan Bernier made 35 saves in the loss, as the Leafs fall to 6-2 on the season.
Goaltender James Reimer started the game but was injured after accidentally colliding with Leivo just 32 seconds into the game. Reimer came out of the net to corral a rebound when Leivo made contact with Reimer’s head, knocking his mask off.
Reimer was slow to get up, but left the ice under his own power. The incident was similar to the collision between Reimer and Montreal’s Brian Gionta that knocked the Leafs netminder out for 18 games two years ago and negatively impacted Reimer’s 2011-12 season.
After a scoreless first in which Toronto outshot the Hurricanes 12-10, the Leafs opened the scoring early in the middle frame as Lupul picked up a loose puck and flipped it past Ward for his club-leading sixth goal of the season.
The Leafs extended the lead to 2-0 just over four minutes later as they took advantage of an errant pinch by Canes defenseman Andrej Sekera, as Leivo streaked down the right side and snapped a quick shot over Ward’s glove hand for his first career NHL goal.
Carolina began their comeback early in the third, with Nazem Kadri off for tripping, as defenseman Ryan Murphy’s point shot deflected off a Leafs stick past Bernier. The goal was the Markham, ON native’s first career NHL goal.
The Canes tied the game less than four minutes later, as Leaf killer Staal jumped on a loose puck in the slot and rifled it over Bernier’s glove hand for his third of the season and 17th goal in 34 career games against Toronto.
The teams traded chances throughout the third period, but the game winner was not scored on one of them. Carolina’s Hainsey dumped the puck from his own zone down the ice and the linesman at center ice raised his arm for an expected icing call, Bernier appeared to expect the whistle for the icing call that never came.
The puck deflected off the boards and off of Bernier’s right skate into the net, a goal very similar to one given up by LA Kings goalie Jonathan Quick last week.
The Leafs pulled Bernier late in the third and Kadri came close to tying the game in the waning seconds, but his shot rang a shot off the crossbar.
Carlyle indicated in his post game remarks that Reimer had a headache following the collision, but expects that he will participate in practice on Friday morning.
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