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The Toronto Maple Leafs won a close contest against the Los Angeles Kings at Air Canada Centre last month, but that was not the case in the rematch at the Staples Center, as the Western Conference leader cruised to a 5-3 victory on Thursday.
Auston Matthews, Morgan Rielly and Connor Brown scored for Toronto, who trailed 5-0 late in the second period and staged a late comeback. Curtis McElhinney made 23 saves in his first start in more than two weeks.
That sweet penalty shot finish. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/XiKGQL5dzU
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 3, 2017
After Toronto righted themselves later in the period, Trevor Lewis beat McElhinney to extend their lead to 3-0 in the final minute and Tyler Toffoli scored twice to make it 5-0 before the Leafs showed any signs of life.
Matthews scored his 10th of the season on a penalty shot and set up Rielly for his second of the year with three seconds left in the middle frame.
“You can't out-score your turnovers.… Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. ““We gave them the two goals. We got the one (turnover) right away in the game, (where) they scored on the breakaway where (Jake Gardiner) falls. Then we were really playing pretty good and (Nazem Kadri) turns the puck over and it's in our net.…
After starting the season 6-1, Toronto has lost five of their last seven games, mostly due to their offense being slowed by teams countering their attack by clogging up the neutral zone. After averaging over five goals per game during their hot start, the Leafs have been held to three goals or less in the last seven.
McElhinney saw only his second start of the season and was victimized by a poor defensive effort, but the Leafs need their backup to steal points in the few starts that he makes and the veteran goaltender does not inspire the confidence that he can do that. Babcock once again tinkered with his lineup on Thursday, substituting Kasperi Kapanen for Josh Leivo and replacing Connor Carrick with Roman Polak.
Kapanen was only superceded by Matthews in shots on goal, with five in 11:35 of ice time. Polak was on the ice for Amadio’s first NHL goal and played the lowest TOI of any Leafs blueliner.
Toronto finishes up their four-game road trip in St. Louis on Saturday before returning home to face the Vegas Golden Knights for the first time on Monday.
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