In Raleigh, the Carolina Hurricanes scored first on Sunday to take a 1-0 lead in the first period over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
From there, it was all Maple Leafs. John Tavares scored in the third period to give the Leafs a 2-1 lead at 8:24.
“We had to be patient with our game,” Tavares said. “We had to win a lot of battles. There wasn’t much room out there for either team. Eventually, we started to create a little bit more, tilt the ice a little bit. They came hard early in the third, but we withstood that and obviously got a couple big goals.”
Mitchell Marner set up the game-winner.
“[The puck was just] kind of bouncing, and lucky enough, I was able to pull it through,” Marner said. “I saw Johnny going back side there. I just tried to put it in a spot where he could one-touch it in.”
Toronto improved to 7-4-2, and have won three straight after a miserable road trip.
Erik Kallgren made 29 saves in the Toronto win.
Carolina took the lead in the first off a strike from Stefan Noesen on the power play.
“Tough game,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I didn’t think we were great, but we certainly weren’t poor. We needed to capitalize on a couple chances. We had a couple good looks and we didn’t score. That’s the difference.”
The Maple got even in the middle frame when Calle Jarnkrok connected for the tying goal, 1-1.
“We talked about this being a big weekend for us, especially being a back-to-back against two great teams,” Marner said. “I think both games, defensively speaking, we did what we wanted to. We held our objective down there. Great weekend.”
Carolina dropped to 8-3-1.
“I didn’t love the second part of the second period at all,” Brind’Amour said. “To me, that’s what the difference in the game was. That kind of flipped it because we had the game going pretty well
Toronto gained breathing room in the 17th minute of the third period when William Nylander potted a marker for the 3-1 final.
“The third period, you’re right there, you’re in the game, you get a couple scoring opportunities,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I think the win is on the backs of playing sound defensively, even when things weren’t going our way.”
Frederik Andersen made 18 saves in the Canes loss.
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