In Toronto, the Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews scored 59 seconds into extra time on Thursday night to hand the Jets a 4-3 loss.
“I just tried to sell shot and take it to the backhand and tried to find some open net,” Matthews said.
Frederik Andersen made 23 saves in the win.
“This was a big win for us,” Marner said. “Obviously we didn’t want to let it keep sliding away from us here so it was a huge win.”
Nikolaj Ehlers struck for two goals for the Jets.
Ilya Mikheyev had a goal for Toronto in the third period for a 3-2 lead.
“I didn’t hate our game; I thought we were playing pretty well,” Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We gave them a couple great opportunities to score and they did. We don’t want to give them those chances but aside from that, I didn’t dislike much about our game. The difference was we had missed a lot of chances that hadn’t gone in and we just had to stay with it and have confidence we’d be able to score enough to win but not give them the next one.”
Mitchell Marner and William Nylander also scored for the Leafs in regulation.
“It was a terrific pass from John (Tavares) , I just had an open net and just had to put it in,” Nylander said. “I had a couple open nets tonight so at least I scored one.”
Paul Stastny forced the extra session when he tied the game, 3-3, at 17:34 of the third period.
“We’re a glass-half-full type of team,” the Jets’ Blake Wheeler said. “Anytime you pull your goalie and you’re down a goal and you tie the game, you feel like you stole a point.”
Connor Hellebuyck made 34 saves in the loss.
“Hellebuyck played a [heck] of a game, he was absolutely unreal tonight,” Ehlers said. “It [stinks] right now.”
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