Maple Leafs overcome 3-goal deficit to beat Lightning in OT
TORONTO (AP) — Calle Jarnkrok scored his second goal of the game 46 seconds into overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 6-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.
Auston Matthews added two goals and an assist, Mitch Marner had a goal and three assists and Matthew Knies had a goal and two assists. Toronto dug out of an early 4-1 hole to improve to 6-4-2 and end an 0-2-2 slide.
“We don’t have any quit in this locker room,” Marner said. “A lot of trust in our group that, regardless of the situation, we’re never out of a game.”
Jarnkrok scored his third goal of the season in the extra period after taking a pass from Morgan Rielly and redirecting the puck past Jonas Johansson.
“There are a lot of things that haven’t gone good for us in the season,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “But we’ve responded in those moments a lot and kept going. Really proud of the way the guys stepped up.”
Toronto starter Ilya Samsonov allowed four goals on 12 shots in just over 15 minutes of action before getting the hook. Joseph Woll made 18 stops in relief. Marner had his 15th four-point game to tie Frank Mahovlich for second in franchise history behind Darryl Sittler, who did it 26 times.
William Nylander picked up an assist on the winner to extend his franchise record points streak to start a season to 12 games.
Nikita Kucherov had two goals and two assists in the first period for Tampa (5-4-3). Victor Hedman added a goal and two assists, and Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel each had a goal and an assist. Johansson made 27 saves.
“It’s getting embarrassing at this point,” Hagel said,
Down 4-3 through 40 minutes, the Maple Leafs tied ot at 1:55 of the third when Jarnkrok buried the rebound of Nick Robertson's shot.
With the crowd at Scotiabank Arena still buzzing, Marner took a pass from Knies off the ensuing faceoff and snapped his fifth upstairs on Johansson just eight seconds later. Hagel tied it at 5 with 2:26 remaining in regulation.
UP NEXT
Lightning: At Montreal on Tuesday night.
Maple Leafs: Host Ottawa on Wednesday night.
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