Domi scores twice, lifts Maple Leafs past Flames

Max Domi scored twice, including the tiebreaking goal with 2:04 remaining in the third period, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Calgary Flames 4-3 at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

John Tavares stole the puck from MacKenzie Weegar and got it to Matthew Knies, who fed Domi for a shot from the right face-off circle to make it 4-3.

Domi, who was on the ice because Toronto coach Craig Berube put him out for an extra shift due to how pleased he was with Domi’s performance, had only one point (one goal) through nine games this season prior to Tuesday.

“We won today, so nothing else matters, man,” Domi said. “You’re not going to get much in terms of individual stuff. That stuff is so irrelevant. It’s a long season. We need everyone, so every night there is going to be someone else that steps up, get some bounces, but we are a group that relies on every single guy in this room and I think everyone was going tonight.”

Knies had two goals and an assist, and Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves for the Maple Leafs (5-4-1), who have won two in a row.

“I liked our game pretty much overall,” Berube said. “There was a lot of good things. There’s obviously mistakes that happen, but I liked our bounce back. We were behind a couple times tonight, but we showed a lot of resilience and fought back and I thought we had everyone playing, everyone kind of going.”

Samuel Honzek scored his first NHL goal, and Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee also scored for the Flames (2-8-1). Dustin Wolf made 33 saves.

“I liked our start,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “I thought we had a good first period and then we got into penalty trouble again, so that’s one thing for sure that I thought we gave them a little bit of momentum off of that. I think we struggled to move the puck from our zone and out tonight. That’s where we got ourselves into the most problems.”

The Flames went up 1-0 at 4:33 of the first period. After Nazem Kadri carried the puck past three Maple Leafs in the neutral zone, he passed to Jonathan Huberdeau above the left face-off circle, where Huberdeau quickly sent a cross-ice pass to Frost for a shot to the blocker side from low in the right circle.

Calgary took three consecutive penalties in the first period at 11:06, 14:02 and 16:06 but killed all three off.

Domi tied it 1-1 at 3:13 of the second period. He held on to the puck on a 2-on-1 with Steven Lorentz and shot high glove from the left hash marks.

“Max for me the last three games has been a different player,” Berube said. “More engaged, and when he’s an engaged player, he’s a good player.”

Farabee put the Flames up 2-1 at 17:55 when he cut around Domi and jammed the puck between Stolarz’s pads at the top of the goal crease. It was his first goal of the season (11 games).

Knies tied it 2-2 at 19:25. William Nylander lifted the stick of Mikael Backlund at the bottom of the right face-off circle to steal the puck, then slid a pass ahead to Knies, who cut across the slot and shot past a sprawling Wolf.

“Great forecheck, stick lifting, working his tail off to get that puck back,” Knies said. “I was fortunate to get a little breakaway there and finish it off.”

Knies then put Toronto up 3-2 on the power play at 3:45 of the third period with his second of the game, knocking in Rasmus Andersson’s clearing attempt at top of the crease during a scramble with Wolf out of position.

“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Frost said. “I don’t think the second period was great. I think we got hemmed in and they took advantage of the long change on us. Just a few errors and too many penalties early on. … I thought we did some good things, but that’s a tough one to lose.”

Honzek tied it 3-3 at 14:49. Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly sent an errant pass out of the reach of Philippe Myers and it was corralled just inside the blue line by Backlund, who found Honzek alone in the slot. The 20-year-old shot between Stolarz’s pads to score in his 14th career game.

“That was a huge win,” Domi said. “I think you have to tip your hat to Calgary. They’ve been playing some good hockey. I don’t think their record matches what they’ve been doing. They worked really hard and took it to us for the most part, but we stuck with our game and found a way to get the two points.”