In Toronto, the Vancouver Canucks’ spiral took yet another few spins downward in a 3-1 loss Monday night to the Maple Leafs.
Auston Matthews continued his efforts to carry the Leafs this season, he scored in his eighth straight game to give Toronto a 2-1 lead.
Frederik Andersen made 31 save for the win.
“It was 1-1 going into the third, and we hadn’t nearly played our best hockey yet,” Matthews said, “but Freddie kept us in it, and we got off to a really good start in the third, had a couple of good offensive-zone shifts, and shifted the momentum back to our side. You have to learn to fight through these kinds of games where it’s not bouncing your way or you don’t have your good legs, but just fight through and find a way, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Elias Pettersson was the lone striker for Vancouver.
“Toronto is a great team,” Pettersson said. “If you give them time and space, they’ll make you pay. It’s a good game, but not good enough. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. It’s frustrating. I hate losing.”
The Maple Leafs improved to 10-2-1.
“I just feel good, I feel focused and feel like I’m moving well and tracking the puck well,” Andersen said. “It’s been small things and adjustments throughout the season so far, and it’s been good. Guys are helping me out well and keeping things simple for me. When I’m playing my best, it looks easier than at other times.”
Alexander Kerfoot scored 11 seconds after Matthews to twist the dagger in the Canucks’ game.
“I liked the fact our guys found their way through it, but I don’t like how we played and that it took us so long to adapt, but I did like that we stuck with it,” Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “The No. 1 takeaway for me is that despite being grossly outplayed through the first two periods, because we didn’t crack defensively other than the one clear chance in the first period Andersen made an outstanding save on, I thought it was a lot of pucks from the outside and they didn’t get access to our net very well.”
Morgan Rielly staked the Maple Leafs to a 1-0 lead in the first period.
The Canucks dropped to 6-10-0.
“I don’t know if we could have played any better in the first two periods and probably deserved to be up more than be in a tie,” Vancouver head coach Travis Green said. “But sometimes when it’s not going your way, you can play a really good game and not get the result you want. Tough loss. The team played very well tonight. I feel bad for our guys.”
Braden Holtby made 15 saves in the loss.
“We were really good,” Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes said. “It was probably our best game all year, making plays, playing confident. We were really good and we were playing with life. So yeah, it [stinks] that we lost this one.”
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