After holding onto a slim one-goal lead to win Game 3, the Toronto Maple Leafs created a more comfortable cushion in Game 4 against the Montreal Canadiens, scoring three second-period goals and getting a shutout performance from Jack Campbell in a 4-0 win at the Bell Centre on Tuesday.
William Nylander, Jason Spezza, Joe Thornton, and Alex Galchenyuk scored for Toronto, who lead 3-1 in the best-of-seven series and have a chance to advance to the second round for the first time in 17 years with a win on Thursday.
After a scoreless opening frame, the Leafs took the lead early in the second as Alex Kerfoot fed Galchenyuk, who made a behind the back pass to set up Nylander for his fourth goal of the playoffs. The former Habs first rounder, who came into the lineup in Game 2 after the injury to John Tavares, helped extend the lead to 2-0, with a slick pass to Spezza on a two-on-one, and scored into the empty net for a three-point night.
“(Alex has) come a long way, he certainly had contributed to our team’s success. That conversation to have him on the outside (to start the series) was not an easy one for me just because he had worked so hard and had performed well for us. I did reassure him that he was going to play and he was going to be an important part of it.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “Whether it was performance or injury or what have you, he was going to get in and I didn’t think it would take him long to get in. That’s the way that it happened. He’s stayed with it, stayed ready. I think he’s gotten better in each game that he played and obviously he was a major difference maker tonight for us.”
The Leafs did not have the services of Nick Foligno for the second straight game (lower body injury) and subbed in Adam Brooks and Travis Dermott for Riley Nash and Rasmus Sandin, but got contributions from the depth in their lineup, made more important on a night with the top line of Zach Hyman-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner being held off the scoreboard.
Thornton scored a power play goal late in the middle frame on a deflection of a Spezza pass, but the most important contribution on the night was a steady performance from Campbell, who made 32 saves in the second of back-to-back games for his first career playoff shutout.
“I felt pretty good. I think the guys just did a great job in front of me. We just stuck to our game plan, got a nice lead and then everybody was just battling.” Campbell said. “Not always the prettiest, but we battled to the end and found a way to get a huge two points.”
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