The San Jose Sharks took a 1-0 lead in the first period against the Maple Leafs in Toronto Friday night and that was basically the end of their night as the Leafs replied with four unanswered goals in a4-1 win.
Frederik Andersen made 16 saves in the win.
Kevin Labanc potted the only goal for the Sharks.
With the game tied at 1-1 in the third period, Morgan Rielly with under five minutes left on the clock to give the Leafs a 2-1 lead.
“It was a great play by Willie,” Rielly said. “But we were motivated, we wanted to come out and have a good effort. When you look back at our past couple of games, there’s room for improvement. We’re aware, and we talked about that. I thought we came in, had a good attitude this morning, had lots of energy, and it carried over.”
Jake Muzzin had a goal for the Leafs.
“I figured why not go to the net,” Muzzin said. “There was five seconds left, so even if they got the puck, it would be tough to get down the ice and score. It was kind of lucky, I guess, but I think it was a big goal for the team to get us going.”
Ilya Mikheyev and Auston Matthews padded the lead in the third for Toronto.
“What I liked about the game is when we had a turnover and they scored, but instead of getting crazy, we just stayed with it, stayed with it and didn’t give up much tonight, which was positive,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “We got the break there at the end of the second period and stayed patient in the third too.” –
[WATCH: All Sharks vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Martin Jones made 23 saves in the loss.
“It was tough to generate shots tonight,” San Jose captain Logan Couture said. “It was a back-to-back for us, and I don’t know if we had great legs, but I thought we put ourselves in a position to win a game. Obviously too many penalties, but our kill was great, kept us in it, and Jones made some big saves when we had breakdowns. We were close to pulling out a point there; it’s tough we couldn’t get one.”
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