In Toronto, five different skaters scored for the Maple Leafs in a 5=1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
Jack Campbell backed up the offense with 22 saves in the victory.
“As a team we didn’t have any doubts, but all goals at playoff time are big goals,” Toronto’s Jason Spezza said. “I’ll take that one. It was the biggest one I’ve had this year. But you want a response; you don’t want to let the game get away from you. They are a team that plays well with a lead. The quicker we could tie the game up, it levels things and allows us to play our game.”
The series is now tied, 1-1, and Game 3 is in Montreal on Monday.
“It’s one game at a time, every game is different,” Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme said. “I don’t think they’re going to be scoring five goals a night. Tonight was a different night.”
Jesperi Kotkaniemi staked the Habs to a 1-0 lead in the first period before the Leafs replied with five unanswered goals.
“We were a little better in the third period, but we cut our own legs out with too many penalties in the first and second period,” Montreal’s Phillip Danault said. “We had trouble getting back, but we tried the best we could in the third but it was too late.”
Spezza tied the game at 1-1, and Auston Matthews gave the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead in the middle frame.
“The best way to describe him was very complete,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said of Matthews (6 of 20 face-off wins). “He was extremely competitive, physical on the puck, scored a huge goal for us, played with all sorts of authority, strong in the face-off dot. There wasn’t really anything he didn’t do extremely well today. We had good efforts all throughout our lineup, but there’s no question Auston was a difference-maker.”
Rasmus Sandin and William Nylander also scored for Toronto.
“It means a lot not only for the guys in the locker room but for John himself,” Matthews said. “He’s such a big part of this team, he’s our leader. When something really scary and serious goes down like it did the other night, I think the response from our group was unbelievable tonight.”
Alexander Kerfoot added an empty-net goal with 83 seconds left on the game clock for the 5-1 final.
“I think Auston was our best player,” Spezza said. “Our best players have been Auston, Mitchell Marner, Nylander, John Tavares every night, and that’s why our team was in first place this year. Auston is a guy we know his play just raises with the big moments.”
Carey Price made 29 saves in the loss.
“It was a tough second period,” Price said. “It was definitely important (to have a push in the third); we were still in the game and had a chance to come back. We’ve done it before this season, but it didn’t work out for us tonight.”
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