The Toronto Maple Leafs were able to fight through the tough checking tight defense of the Dallas Stars in a 5-2 win at American Airlines Center on Wednesday, moving the Leafs into a tie with Florida for third place in the Atlantic Division and with Carolina for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Auston Matthews, Zach Hyman, Tyson Barrie, William Nylander, and Andreas Johnsson scored for Toronto, and Frederik Andersen made 34 saves for his second victory after the NHL All-Star break, in a game where the Stars game plan was undoubtedly to step up their physicality against a Leafs team that has little or none.
Not even a clean hit from the 207 pound Jamie Benn is going to stop Sandin from making a clean slip-pass to generate a zone-exit. pic.twitter.com/pA3EQyY0UV
Rookie defenseman Rasmus Sandin was a particular target, absorbing checks from Dallas forwards Jamie Benn and Blake Comeau, but the attention did not phase the 19-year-old blueliner, who played just under 13 minutes on the night.
“We generated a number of really good scoring chances ourselves and maybe we could have had even more goals, especially early (in the game). Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “I just liked how we battled. Getting wins like this on the road, late penalty kill, goalie's out for a long period of time there like this. Those are tough, tough sequences. You're relying on a small number of guys to get that done. The guys just found a way.”
Keefe leaned heavily on his top two lines and got results as Mitch Marner set up Matthews for his club-leading 36th goal and Hyman’s 14th of the season, while Nylander scored his 24th on the rebound of a Jake Muzzin point shot.
The Leafs once again struggled to hold a lead, as Dallas winger Alexander Radulov scored late in the second period to narrow the Toronto lead to 3-2 and once again after Nylander’s third period tally to cut the deficit to 1 before Johnsson’s insurance goal into the empty net.
“We had a two-goal lead and that's where we would rather be. You score the first goal in the third period and that puts you in an even better spot. But certainly, if you give it back, then you've got to just battle and find a way and limit what you give up on the inside and know that they're going to have a push, but try to keep it from stuff on the outside that you can block or Freddie can see.” Keefe said.
Toronto will play at Scotiabank Arena against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
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