The Toronto Maple Leafs completed a comeback from two goals down in the third period to top the host Winnipeg Jets 4-3 in overtime on Saturday night.
Max Domi scored in overtime on a 2-on-1 off Auston Matthews’ perfectly placed pass through the slot.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson recorded a goal and two assists on the Leafs’ blue line, while teammates Matthews, Domi and Morgan Rielly also had multi-point games. Dennis Hildeby turned away 27 of 30 shots while Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck stopped 33 of 37.
Alex Iafallo, Kyle Connor and Nino Niederreiter scored for the Jets, and Vladislav Namestnikov tallied two assists for the home team.
After a relatively tepid first period, Iafallo opened the scoring at the beginning of the second with a shot from the point that floated past Hildeby just after their first power play of the game drew to a close. The goal came after Cole Perfetti hit the post on a two-man breakaway just seconds earlier.
Connor extended Winnipeg’s lead at the 8:59 mark, driving to the inside from the sideboards to flip the puck over Hildeby’s shoulder. Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe opted to prevent a cross-crease pass instead of challenging the puck carrier, inadvertently giving Connor a clear path to the net.
Matthews brought the deficit back within one less than 25 seconds later, arriving in the high slot just in time to receive a pass from Domi behind the net. Matthews’ powerful wrist shot skipped under Hellebuyck’s glove.
Niederreiter made it 3-1 at the start of the third period, spinning away from defenseman Rielly to hammer a rebound past Hildeby off a Luke Schenn slap shot. The goal was his first in 22 games.
Ekman-Larsson responded soon after, firing it in from the faceoff circle off a nifty spinning setup from Nick Robertson.
Bobby McMann tied the game at 3 late with his 50th NHL goal, deflecting Ekman-Larsson’s low point shot and perplexing Hellebuyck off an offensive zone faceoff.
Connor thought he had snapped in the first goal of the game when the goal light flashed on late in the first period. In actuality, Hildeby caught a small piece of the puck before it rang the post and spun off the goal line.
Both teams exchanged close calls before the end of regulation. The Jets hit yet another post, this time off the stick of Jonathan Toews. Matthews almost stripped the puck off Hellebuyck beside the net at the other end. Matthews had another chance in overtime, but Winnipeg forward Mark Scheifele stopped the puck from sailing into an open net.
The Leafs played the game without their leading points scorer William Nylander, who left their Thursday night game against Vegas with a lower-body injury. The loss snapped Winnipeg’s four-game win streak.
–Field Level Media
