Maple Leafs edge Ducks, expand lead in Atlantic Division
Max Domi, Mitch Marner and Steven Lorentz scored for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Sunday.
Joseph Woll made 29 saves for the Maple Leafs (45-25-4), who were coming off a 3-1 win at the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
“As a full team, we did a great job,” Woll said. “We had some amazing blocks by our defensemen, and just a good job staying to our structure, staying patient and getting a tight win.”
Toronto is in first place in the Atlantic Division, three points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers. The Maple Leafs have played one more game.
“I thought the team competed hard tonight,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “I thought we were a little tired and gassed, or it looked like it anyway, but we did a good job defending. We did what we had to do to win the game.”
Leo Carlsson and Sam Colangelo scored, and Lukas Dostal made 20 saves for the Ducks (32-33-8), who had won two in a row and three of four.
“I thought we battled hard the whole game,” Anaheim defenseman Jackson LaCombe said. “They’re a really good team and I thought we stuck with it the whole time. They got a good bounce with the tip at the end and we just couldn’t get one back.”
Toronto took a 3-2 lead when Lorentz scored on a deflection from the side of the crease at 11:35 of the third period.
“He is a down-low player in the offensive zone who knows what he needs to do to be successful,” Berube said of Lorentz, who has four game-winners among his seven goals. “He is around the net.”
Domi gave Toronto a 1-0 lead with 36 seconds left in the first period when he skated around Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas and lifted a backhand into the net for his eighth goal of the season and fifth in March.
Marner blocked a point shot by Jansen Harkins, leading to a breakaway and he waited out Dostal before sliding the puck into the net to make it 2-0 at 6:29 of the second period.
The Ducks cut it to 2-1 at 7:50 when Carlsson scored with a wrist shot through traffic from above the circles for his 20th goal of the season and fourth in the past three games.
The Ducks were on a power play when Colangelo’s redirection went off the far post before he scored the rebound to tie it 2-2 at 2:16 of the third period.
Colangelo has six goals and an assist in 11 games since he was recalled from San Diego of the American Hockey League.
“The defensemen here are pretty huge, especially the PK guys,” Colangelo said “You’ve got to stand in there and take a little heat, but at the end of the day it’s worth it when you can bang home a rebound like that.”
The Maple Leafs celebrated a goal by Matthew Knies at 2:46 of the first period, but Anaheim successfully challenged for a missed high stick on Marner.
“It’s really good for our players to go through this, but the little details like face-offs end up being a big part of games like this,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “That’s one of those things that we’re going to have to learn from.”
