In Toronto, the Maple Leafs outscored the visiting Carolina Hurricanes, 5-1, in the third period en route to an 8-6 win on Monday.
Mitchell Marner potted two goals and added three assists in the victory.
“Our adrenaline was pumping, heart’s pumping, I’m fired up,” Marner said. “The first was a great pass from [Auston] Matthews, the second was a great play by Tyson [Barrie] to find the open spot and make a move, and the third one, I jumped through and was able to pick it off and get down the ice and score. I don’t think the timeout [after the second] one mattered. You’re just riding the high and feel like you could play forever. I felt like a little kid out there skating around, we knew we could do the job, and it’s a great team win.”
Frederik Andersen made 35 saves in the win.
“Probably yeah, that was one of the craziest games I’ve been a part of,” Andersen said. “I don’t have anything that can top that, off the top of my head. I tried to stay as level as I can and worry about what I could control. The only thing I could do is try to make sure I stopped the next puck, and for a rough game, I was able to do that in the third period.”
The Canes held a seemingly solid 5-3 lead heading to the final frame.
Martin Necas and Erik Haula scored two goals apiece in the losing effort for the Canes.
“Not in a while I haven’t been a part of anything like that. That was a tough game,” Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We didn’t come out ready, it wasn’t everyone, but we had a couple guys sleeping, and it cost us. Got back in and we had the game in hand, and then just fell asleep, took a little breath, and against a team with high high-end talent, you can’t do that. It’s another tough lesson. I would have rather lost 8-0 to be honest because we were so bad to start.”
Andrei Svechnikov and Brock McGinn had single markers for the Canes.
“Lots of emotions in the game from our start and we’re feeling great and then it gets away from us,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We start to come back in the third and we give it up again so it was a lot of emotions, but I really liked how our team stayed with it and found a way and everybody goes home happy.”
John Tavares, Auston Matthews, Tyson Barrie, Jason Spezza had markers in the win.
“I don’t really know how to describe that, it was probably really entertaining for people watching but that was brutal,” Haula said. “With Reimer starting who has played [for the Maple Leafs] before, and that’s how we start in front of him, that was quite embarrassing.”
William Nylander also scored for the Leafs and Pierre Engvall added an empty-net goal to seal it.
[WATCH: All Hurricanes vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
James Reimer got the start for the Canes and yielded three goals while making four saves in the first period.
“I would have rather lost 8-0 to be honest with you because we were so bad to start and to fight back, you’re basically throwing it away unless you finish it off,” Brind’Amour said. “Unless you win it, there’s no point in coming back because now we had a couple guys who had really good games, but we had a couple guys who fell asleep in the third. In today’s game, you have to have 20 guys doing it right.”
Petr Mrazek made 27 saves after taking the ice to start the middle frame.
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