Joseph Woll was outstanding in net but left the game injured prior to the third period as the Maple Leafs went on to win their third straight 5-1 over Carolina Thursday night at the Lenovo Center.
Toronto wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. Bobby McMann netted his seventh of the year 53 seconds into the game. Nicholas Roy skated the puck up the boards, zipped it over to McMann in the slot, who snuck it past Carolina goalie Freddie Andersen for the 1-0 lead.
The Maple Leafs increased the margin at 11:45, taking advantage of a fortunate bounce. Phillipe Myers fired a puck in from the red line that appeared to be headed around the net, but instead bounced off a stanchion and right to the stick of Scott Laughton alone in front of Andersen. Laughton did not miss, scoring his second in as many games, to put Toronto up 2-0.
The Hurricanes, who had been buzzing around the net all period, finally broke through. With just over four minutes remaining, Seth Jarvis scored his 16th of the year off a transition play, and two tape-to-tape passes, one from Sebastian Aho, the other from Shayne Gostisbehere to his stick for the tap-in goal past Woll.
The late period goal did not shift momentum, however, as the Leafs took charge in the second. Matthew Knies scored a highlight reel goal at the 4:44 mark. After beating Gostisbehere for the puck at his own blue line, the winger skated down the ice, fell to his knees, got up, repelled a check from Aho, then roofed the puck over Andersen to make it 3-1.
About halfway through the period, Auston Matthews scored his 11th of the season to extend the margin to 4-1. Knies intercepted a pass in his own end and started a three-on-one back the other way that ended with a Max Domi pass to the captain for the goal.
Everything was seemingly going well for the Toronto, but when they returned to the ice for the third period, they were without their starting goaltender. Woll was apparently suffering from a lower body injury. Dennis Hildeby took over in the net and stopped all nine shots he faced.
McMann added an empty net goal to push the final to 5-1.
Next up, Toronto returns home to take on the Canadiens Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena.
