In Toronto, the visiting Calgary Flames snapped out of the funk they have been in, with a 3-2 win over the Maple Leafs in overtime.
Johnny Gaudreau scored 36 seconds into the extra session for the win.
“We had a couple of shootouts in the past few practices before the [NHL Trade] Deadline (on Monday), and I scored a couple on him, so I kind of felt comfortable there,” Gaudreau said. “I normally don’t go to my forehand and I think I fooled him a little bit there.”
Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves to get the win.
Milan Lucic played in his 1,000th NHL game, he had an assist.
“Personally, it’s a great achievement and it makes it that much better when you get a big win,” Lucic said. “It just adds so much more to it, especially when we are desperate for wins and we get a big win like that against the best team in our division. We fought hard all night long to get it, so kudos to my teammates and coaches for stepping up and getting the win to add on to the milestone.”
Zack Hyman and Alexander Kerfoot scored for the Maple Leafs.
Calgary took the early lead on a goal from Juuso Valimaki in the first period.
“We need to take it game by game,” Gaudreau said. “We have an uphill battle to try to make the playoffs here. To get two wins against the Edmonton Oilers (5-0 on Saturday) and Toronto, two of the more skilled teams in the North Division, and now we get an opportunity to play against the Canadiens five times in the remainder of the season, we’ve put ourselves in a good spot to climb out of this.”
Elias Lindholm gave the Flames a 2-1 lead 34 seconds into the middle frame.
David Rittich made 25 saves in his first game with the Leafs after being traded away by the Flames.
“It was a tough one, right. I played against my old team where I was for four years,” Rittich said. “I’ve got some life friends there. It was a tough one, and the even worse thing is we lost in overtime. It’s great to be in Toronto though, beautiful city, great guys. It’s a bunch of beauties here, so it’s great.”
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