In Toronto, the Maple Leafs’ rampage through the NHL’s Canadian division has hit a penny on the rails. On Saturday night, the Leafs held a 2-1 lead in the middle frame until Paul Stastny tied the game for the Winnipeg Jets late in the period.
The Jets then add three more goals in the third period for a 5-2 road win Saturday.
Mark Scheifele, Adam Lowry and Nikolaj Ehlers scored in the third period outburst for the Jets.
“We knew it was going to be tough. They’re a fantastic team and they show that night in and night out,” Scheifele said. “It was a big win for us, a huge two points and a great road trip. I thought it was a great 60 minutes for us, we played awesome. You know you’re playing against a lot of skilled players, so you have to be prepared for that, and I thought we kept getting better and better as the game went on.”
Laurent Brossoit made 20 saves to get the win for Winnipeg.
Toronto has lost four of its last five games.
“I thought we had a real hard time stringing together two passes tonight. We just didn’t have a good game,” Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We weren’t sharp mentally, weren’t sharp physically, couldn’t get our game going. We just weren’t even close tonight with how we played.”
Jake Muzzin and William Nylander had the goals for the Maple Leafs.
“We’re obviously very aware of the standings, where we are, where they are,” the Maple Leafs’ Morgan Rielly said. “We were aware what’s going on. It will be interesting down the stretch, we play them a bunch more times, so it’s important that we learn from these games and move forward.”
Mason Appleton also scored for the Jets.
“I wouldn’t number their line (Lowry, Appleton and Andrew Copp) three, that’s how good (they were),” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. “They were true to their identity and they’ve been building toward it. We saw Appleton driving the net all series. They’re not a line you put on the ice to hold water anymore, they’ll just generate in a different way with net drive or win battles behind the net. They were really good.”
Frederik Andersen made 27 saves in the loss.
“I don’t think we made it hard enough on their goalie, and in saying that, we had a great opportunity going into the third,” Toronto’s John Tavares said. “We’ve got to find a way to come out on the right side of it and make the plays needed and obviously defend better than we did”
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