The Toronto Maple Leafs continued their regular season domination of Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers with a 4-3 comeback victory on Saturday, scoring two third-period goals to tie the game and winning it in overtime on Auston Matthews league-leading 22nd goal of the season.
The Leafs were not able to corral Edmonton’s dynamic duo as they successfully did in their three-game sweep last month, as McDavid and Leon Draisaitl factored in on all three Oiler goals in the middle frame, but battled back in the third with a pair of goals from the second line of Alex Galchnyuk, John Tavares and William Nylander.
Jack Campbell made 17 saves for his sixth win of the season, but after starting three games in a row, head coach Sheldon Keefe will go to backup Michael Hutchinson in the finale of the two-game series and season series with Edmonton at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
Lost in the euphoria of Saturday’s victory was Zach Kassian's big hit on Tavares late in regulation. The hit went without much of a response because of when it occurred and what the score was, but it may be something that will get addressed on Monday.
“I think just in terms of the intensity, it'll carry over for sure. We'll see what sort of specific instances happen tonight, but that particular play was a huge hit, and obviously you'd like to have some sort of team response, but with one minute left, it's a little bit risky.” Leafs defenseman Justin Holl said on Monday. “You don't want to get a penalty or anything like that, so we're just trying to play hockey out there and we'll handle things as they come.”
Rumors persist that the Leafs are looking to add a top six forward in advance of the April 12th trade deadline and the name most often mentioned is Nashville forward Mikael Granlund, but the Preds 3-2 win over Chicago on Sunday moved them into a tie with the Hawks for fourth place in the Central after winning seven of the last eight games.
Nashville being in the playoff race could mean that GM David Poile will not be moving veteran defenseman Mattias Ekholm in the next two weeks or that rentals like Granlund or Erik Haula will be off the market. Based on the needs of the Leafs, this might be good news.
It continues to be quite apparent that the Leafs need a forward that can play in their top nine that is suited to playing heavy hockey that will undoubtedly be played in the postseason. Forwards like Nick Foligno (Columbus) and Miles Wood (New Jersey) would fit a top-nine role, while Arizona’s Lawson Crouse would be a younger version of what veteran forward Kyle Clifford provided as a fourth line winger.
Toronto’s pushback has improved with the additions of Jake Muzzin, Wayne Simmonds and Zach Bogosian, but teams will continue to focus physically on Leafs star players, (as Boston did two years ago when Zdeno Chara punched Tavares in a scrum), until they prove that they will respond in kind against the opposition’s core group.
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