Maple Leafs ground Jets, 5-3

In Winnipeg, Jack Campbell made 34 saves for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday in a 5-3 win over the Jets.

“They came out and kind of threw everything at us,” Campbell said of the third period. “Tonight, I just battled and I thought the guy’s battled in front of me. … That’s a huge win against a really good team.”

Auston Matthews potted his 34th goal of the season and added two assists for the Leafs.

Mitchell Marner struck twice for Toronto.

“We needed to get a win here today. No matter who we were playing we needed to get back on the right side of it,” Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We had to turn the light bulbs on there for the third period and make sure we took care of this one.

“In terms of the standings and everything like that, we didn’t talk about that a great deal. I think no matter who were playing today we knew we needed a good effort and I think that we did that here today, but a lot of things we could do better, and we’re certainly going to have to do that on Saturday.”

Matthews and Wayne Simmons scored in the first period to give the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead.

Mark Scheifele and Andrew Copp replied for Winnipeg to tie the game, 2-2.

“Definitely not the start we wanted, but we kept on clawing back and tried to get some chances,” Scheifele said. “We fought right to the end and made it a close one. It would have been nice to get that one into overtime.”

Jason Spezza replied the Leafs lead at 3-2 midway through the opening frame.

“It’s 2-2. They didn’t run all over us,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. “Certainly we weren’t better than they were, but I don’t know how much better they were than us. It was 2-2 early enough in that game.”

Marner scored his first of the game to give the Leafs a 4-2 lead before Kyle Connor scored to make it 4-3 in the middle frame.

Marner iced the win with an empty-net goal in the third.

“I think we were chasing the game,” the Jets’ Blake Wheeler said. “We hadn’t played a game in four days. It’s tough to do, just to come out and pick right up where you left off. So it took us a period to get into it. I thought the back half of the game we played a pretty good game, but unfortunately it was just too far out of reach for us.”

Connor Hellebuyck got the start for the Jets, but never made it out of the first period.  he yielded three goals and made three saves before getting the hook.

Laurent Brossoit made 25 saves in a relief/mop up role.