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Leafs sweep road trip, Campbell remains unbeaten, trade chatter

April 6, 2021, 5:53 PM ET [274 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs completed a clean sweep of their four-game Western road swing, as Auston Matthews scored a pair of goals and Jack Campbell remained undefeated in a 5-3 victory over the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday.

Matthews widened his lead for the Rocket Richard Trophy with his 26th and 27th goals of the season, including the game-winning power play goal midway through the third period that snapped an 0-29 stretch of futility with the man advantage. Jason Spezza, Wayne Simmonds and John Tavares also scored, and Campbell made 26 saves for his ninth straight victory, tying Felix Potvin, Jacques Plante and John Ross Roach for the longest winning streak in franchise history.



“(Jack is) just battling his ass off out there and competing in the net, even though I don’t (know) how many games he’s given up three, but he’s still battling right until the very end. He’s been great.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “He’s been dealing with injuries. He’s had extended periods of time off and it fazed him. He’s come back in the net and just kept going where he left off. It’s been fun to watch that happen and, obviously, nice to have him with us.”

The Leafs are six points up on both Winnipeg and Edmonton in the race for top spot in the North and return home to play the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday, who will be without winger Brendan Gallagher and goalie Carey Price after being injured in a 3-2 win over the Oilers on Monday.

With six days left until the NHL Trade Deadline, Leafs GM Kyle Dubas is continuing to pursue potential avenues to improve his club even though they are red-hot. The addition of winger Alex Galchenyuk may have decreased the urgency for a trade for a scoring winger, but additional help up front may be a desire because of the age of some of Toronto’s depth forwards.



“I think the emergence of Galchenyuk playing with John (Tavares) and William (Nylander), both in terms of the fact he’s produced a little bit but in terms of how hard he’s playing and the effectiveness that he’s brought to the group, I think certainly reduces the urgency,” Dubas said to the Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun. “But with all that said, if we can do something that we think is going to be a good fit in the locker room and on the ice, I think we would still very openly explore that.’’

The Leafs may still be looking to hit a homerun and acquire a big name like Taylor Hall, but that kind of move would necessitate Buffalo retaining 50% of Hall’s $8 million cap hit, trading someone of the existing roster, or finding another club to retain more money to fit him under the cap.

The health of Frederik Andersen could throw the Leafs plans for a loop if they cannot get more of an idea how healthy he will be going forward. If Dubas has to find goaltending help, Toronto has the option of placing Andersen on LTIR to open up cap space to add a goalie, whether it be Linus Ullmark, David Rittich or another experienced rental.

An area that has to this point been ignored has been defense, which has remained remarkably healthy this season. The Leafs depth after their starting six is either inexperienced (Rasmus Sandin, Timothy Liljegren) or inept (Martin Marincin). Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned in his “31 Thoughts” column the possibility of Toronto going after Dallas defenseman Jamie Oleksiak to bolster the blueline.

The 6’ 7”. 255 lb. Toronto native was a big presence for the Stars during their improbable run to the Cup Final last season and has a cap hit ($2.13 million) that the Leafs might be able to fit in.


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