Auston Matthews scored the tying goal late in the third period, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the New York Islanders 4-3 in a shootout at Air Canada Centre on Thursday.
Matthews tied it 3-3 with 3:29 left in the third period when he deflected a shot from Jake Gardiner off the skate of Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy.
Mitchell Marner and Morgan Rielly scored, Tyler Bozak scored the only shootout goal, and Frederik Andersen made 32 saves for the Maple Leafs (38-20-5), who have won eight home games in a row.
Toronto, which has won 12 of its past 14, trails the Boston Bruins by one point for second place in the Atlantic Division; Boston holds five games in hand.
“We won the game [tonight], that’s it,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “We’ve played real well here of late, worked real hard and been real organized and I think done things right. We got out of it here [tonight] and have to get back on it tomorrow, obviously. But it’s good, you want the other team to look at [your home record] when they come in and say, ‘Hey, it’s going to be a tough night.’ Normally we play like that; we didn’t tonight, though.”
Mitch making his mark. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/lCqiJdmTcT
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 23, 2018
.@mriles4 with @MapleLeafs Goal #2. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/YW2M7Tnuu4
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 23, 2018
.@AM34 gets us to #NHLOT. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/7CFumyhLiu
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 23, 2018
.@Bozie42 got this. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/oqpZjvlYWi
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 23, 2018
"Bozie, you're #1 buddy." #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/EttOcRF47H
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 23, 2018
4 reasons to celebrate. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/HV0yAduyzS
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 23, 2018