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Looking to sweep on the coast; Leafs vs. Ducks

November 16, 2018, 5:46 PM ET [613 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs finish out their West Coast swing against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday, hoping to sweep the three-game tour of the Pacific Division for the first time in more than 20 years.

The Leafs took an early lead, survived some defensive gaffes, utilized their speed and took advantage of an unhinged opponent intent on revenge in a 5-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. Kasperi Kapanen scored twice, John Tavares, Josh Leivo and Mitch Marner added goals for Toronto and Frederik Andersen made 42 saves for his 11th victory of the season.



“We started real good and then we stopped playing in the last 10 (of the first period) and we just said instead of getting involved in all the crap, why don't we just play because we're quicker than them.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “In the end, when we got refocused, we got playing better. I thought our second period was our best.”

The Leafs were not able to hold a lead long early in the game. Kevin Labanc tied the game less than four minutes after Tavares 12th goal of the season, Joe Pavelski’s power play goal erased Kapanen’s conversion on a two-on-one break.

Mark-Edouard Vlasic’s first of the year gave the Sharks the lead late in the first, but Toronto took over in the middle frame, with Leivo converting on a setup from Tyler Ennis for the tying goal and Kapanen giving the Leafs the lead for good on a short-handed breakaway.

San Jose pressed to tie the game and outshot Toronto 15-5 in the third, but Marner essentially ended any chance of a Sharks comeback, corralling in a long bomb pass from Andersen and firing a wrist shot past Martin Jones.



“It’s fun to get some points on the season total. It was a great shot by Mitch.” Andersen said. “I saw him out there and I figured I’d try to catch him on the change. That turned out to be a big goal.”

The game was marred by the Sharks targeting of Nazem Kadri, who had pulled a chunk of the beard of Joe Thornton in a fight last season. The Leafs center did not take the bait and absorbed numerous hits throughout the game and finally responded late in the game after being punched in the back of the head by San Jose’s Melker Karlsson.



With the second of back-to-back games, the Leafs will give Igor Ozhiganov the night off and go with Martin Marincin on the bottom defensive pairing, but will not make any changes to their forwards.

Garret Sparks (2-1-0, 4.00 GAA and .879 save %) will hope to bounce back from a subpar outing against Boston last Saturday, where he gave up five goals on 34 shots in the Leafs only road loss. John Gibson (6-7-3, 2.60 GAA, .927 save %) will get the start for the Ducks. Gibson has been spectacular this season, but has not been getting a lot of help from his teammates, who have allowed the second most shots in the NHL this year.


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