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Never let it be said that the Toronto Maple Leafs don’t follow the same narrative, as they once again jumped out to an early lead, saw it evaporate through the middle of the game before rallying late and holding on for a 5-4 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Monday.
Ilya Mikheyev, Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, Alex Kerfoot and Michael Bunting scored and Petr Mrazek made 31 saves in the victory that saw Toronto snap their two-game losing skid, but also saw them continue to display an inability to preserve a lead.
“That goal (Columbus) scored early in the second, that’s a real downer on the game for me. Obviously, the first period was as good as we could ask for. You want to follow that up and keep building on it, but we weren’t able to do that, so that was the disappointing part of the game.… Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “I thought we actually out-chanced them in the second period despite them carrying the play a little bit against us, so the fact that we weren’t able to get the fourth goal, I thought was significant in the second period. And then take a penalty and they get one to even it up but loved how our guys were calm and went out there and made plays to get us our lead back.…
The game nearly followed the same pattern as the Leafs 5-3 win in Washington one week ago, as the club jumped out 3-0 on goals by Mikheyev, Marner, and Matthews. In the middle frame, an inability to get the puck out of their own zone resulted in Sean Kuraly’s goal early in the period and in Gustav Nyquist setting up Oliver Bjorkstrand narrowing the lead to 3-2.
Jack Roslovic completed the comeback early in the third on the power play, but the Leafs fourth line changed the momentum of the contest, as Kerfoot’s wrist shot beat Elvis Merzlikins top corner to give Toronto they would not relinquish. Bunting added his 20th of the season as insurance and that was needed, as Patrik Laine scored to make it 5-4 in the final minute to make the final 48 seconds filled with drama.
#Leafs make it 5-3, Matthews #41.....love this call. GOOOOAAALLL..... #NHL pic.twitter.com/AZhpsCQxfN
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) March 8, 2022
While the top line accounted for three of the Leafs five goals, and they got contributions from the third and fourth units, the second line continued to struggle, failing to score and being the only minus players in the lineup all night.
Nick Robertson played well in his second game on the line with John Tavares and William Nylander, registering three shots. The Leafs team captain won 65% of his faceoffs but took two minor penalties (one which resulted in the tying goal). Nylander was virtually undetectable in 17 minutes.
The club will take on the Seattle Kraken in the second of back-to-back games at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday. Jack Campbell will get the start in goal, but it is unknown whether Rasmus Sandin (illness) or Ondrej Kase (upper body) will be available to step into the lineup. *******
Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
Convo on Podcast.#theleafsconvo https://t.co/Xdn3CDLVCI