Bo Groulx scored two goals, and Anthony Stolarz made 36 saves, leading the Maple Leafs to a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild Sunday Night at Grand Casino Arena.
It did not look good on paper: a depleted, depressed , downtrodden Leafs squad, on the road, playing their third game in four nights against a team many believe will contend for the Stanley Cup. But as the saying goes, these games aren’t contested on paper, and on the ice, Toronto battled hard for the victory.
Stolarz was the star early, stopping all 10 shots he faced in a scoreless first period.
The Leafs took the lead 1:07 into the second. Morgan Rielly snuck down to the face-off dot and fired home a Matias Maccelli pass by Minnesota goalie Jesper Wallstedt to make it 1-0. Just over a minute later, Bo Groulx scored his 2nd of the season, deflecting a Troy Stecher point shot past Wallsedt to extend the margin to 2-0. Groulx added another goal at 8:18. The sub-in centre intercepted a Matt Boldy clearing pass, then rifled a shot from outside the circle through to the back of the net. Toronto led 3-0 after two periods.
Minnesota pushed back in the final twenty. Veteran winger Vladimer Tarasenko scored a pair of goals, his 17th and 18th of the season, to narrow the gap to 3-2 with nearly 15 minutes remaining. The Leafs hunkered down after that. Stolarz stood tall, turning away 15 of 17 third-period shots, and Mattew Knies added an empty net goal at 19:23 to secure the 4-2 victory.
Next up, Toronto returns home Tuesday night to take on the New York Islanders.
