After sweeping the Edmonton Oilers three straight last month, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost six of their next seven games, in part because of Auston Matthews wrist injury and Frederik Andersen’s lower body difficulties, but with Matthews back to scoring with regularity and the club getting good performances in goal without their starter, the Leafs have won six of their last seven and reestablished control in the North Division.
Toronto’s 4-2 win over Calgary at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Sunday was far from a masterpiece, as the Leafs struggled to generate much of an attack in the opening 40 minutes, but goaltender Michael Hutchinson kept the game close with his best outing of the season until the offense broke through with two goals from John Tavares and Auston Matthews in a span of 2:21 in the third period.
Morgan Rielly and Alex Galchenyuk also scored, and Hutchinson made 32 stops for Toronto, who moved six points ahead of Edmonton and Winnipeg for first place in the North.
“We obviously were not very good at all through 40 minutes, but we were in a game. We gave ourselves an opportunity to win a hockey game.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “We got a big goal there late in the second, and the way that it worked out, we really needed to find a way to get better for 20, and if we did we liked our opportunity to get points here tonight. I really liked our third.”
Rielly opened the scoring 58 seconds into the contest, but Calgary erased that and took the lead before the end of the first on goals from Joakim Nordstrom and Andrew Mangiapane. Toronto managed only six shots in the middle frame, but tied the game on Galchenyuk’s first goal in Blue and White.
The Leafs close out their four-game road swing on Monday with the second of back-to-back games against the Flames, but Jack Campbell being between the pipes is not a foregone conclusion. Veini Vehvilainen served as the backup for Hutchinson on Sunday and Keefe was not definitive that Campbell would be in goal.
“We’ll have to see on that. It didn’t feel like it made sense to have him back up here today with the potential of having to go in cold and all that stuff so we’ll see how he gets through the morning skate tomorrow and make the decision there, but we’re hopeful that’s going to be the case.”
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With one week to go until the NHL Trade Deadline, the Leafs seem to be in a holding pattern based on what their shopping list is. Any clarity on the health status of Frederik Andersen is not expected until later this week, and if the news is not good, it could force GM Kyle Dubas to acquire a goaltender before April 12.
TSN’s Darren Dreger reported this weekend that the Leafs may have put in an inquiry on New Jersey winger Kyle Palmieri, whom the Devils healthy scratched on Sunday for precautionary reasons.
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