Toronto blew a two-goal third-period lead and fell in overtime 6-5 to the Golden Knights on Thursday in Las Vegas.
In his first game against his former club, Mitch Marner faced constant razzing from the vocal, travelling Toronto fans, but he and his teammates got the last laugh with a comeback win.
Morgan Rielly opened the scoring at the 2:05 mark of the first. The Toronto blue liner took a William Nylander slot pass and snapped the puck past Golden Knights’ goaltender Adin Hill to make it 1-0.
Toronto doubled its lead about three minutes later when Nylander flipped a backhand over Hill. Unfortunately, it appeared that the winger injured himself during his celebration as he caught an edge and stumbled.
The Golden Knights cut the margin on a power play at 8:12. Pavel Dotofeyev scored his 18th of the season off a one-timer set up by Marner.
Auston Matthews pushed the lead back to two with his 23rd on the year, a redirect of a Jake McCabe shot at 9:57.
The teams traded goals in the second. Keegan Kolesar banged home a rebound through Joseph Woll to make it 3-2, 5:51 into the period. John Tavares answered on a Leafs’ power play, deflecting a Matias Maccelli shot to extend the lead to 4-2 after two.
Dorofeyev and Marner teamed up for another power play goal 2:10 into the third. Marner walked in, fired a shot that hit the backboards and bounced to Dorofeyev, who slid the puck past Woll to close the gap to 4-3.
The Leafs responded again. About midway through the period, Scott Laughton received a pass from Matthew Knies on a two-on-one and sniped a shot underneath the outstretched glove of Hill to make it 5-3.
The Golden Knights were not done. Mark Stone scored his 17th goal of the season at 10:14. The veteran forward jammed home a puck through a pile of laid out bodies in front of the Maple Leafs’ net, to trim it to 5-4.
Marner and Dorofeyev appeared to team up once again and tie the game at 15:47, but Dorofeyev’s hat-trick goal was reversed as the play was determined to be offside.
Vegas would, however, score the equalizer. In the waning seconds, with the Leafs trying to hold on for dear life, and the Golden Knights’ net empty, Jack Eichel found Tomas Hertl between the circles. The Centremen then turned and fired a shot past Woll, tying the game.
Then, in overtime, it was Eichel with his 18th of the season, beating Woll and the Maple Leafs 6-5.
Next up, Toronto heads to Winnipeg Saturday night to close out their road trip against the Jets.
