The Maple Leafs squandered a third-period lead, falling to the Los Angeles Kings 4- 3 in overtime Thursday night at Scotiabank Arena.
Reeling from a series of poor performances, a three-game losing streak, and injuries to their starting goaltender, Anthony Stolarz, and star forward, Auston Matthews, the Leafs were in desperate need of a victory.
The urgency was apparent, and for one of the few times this season, Toronto managed an early lead.
Bobby McMann opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs. The forward stole the puck at his blue line, skated in on a breakaway, and snuck one past King’s goaltender Darcy Kuemper to make it 1-0, 8:06 into the first.
McMann figured in the Leafs’ second goal. This time, by accidentally high-sticking Los Angeles’ defenceman Brian Dumoulin. The no-call allowed Toronto to gain control of the puck deep in the Kings’ zone. A scramble ensued, with Oliver Ekman-Larsson eventually finding John Tavares in front of the net for a tap-in goal to increase the margin to 2-0 going into the second.
But that is when the band-aid started to burst. At the 6:51 mark, Kings’ forward Warren Foegele wristed a routine shot that squeezed between Denis Hildeby’s glove and pad to cut the lead to 2-1. The somewhat soft goal was one of the few blemishes on an otherwise strong performance from the Leafs’ netminder.
Hildeby faced an onslaught of shots from the second period on, including Kevin Fiala’s 9th of the season, tying the game 2-2. The Kings took advantage of a flat-footed Leafs’ defence that failed to clear three rebounds before the left winger slammed the puck home at 15:51.
The Leafs showed some wherewithal, and with just under three minutes left in the period, William Nylander found a wide-open Tavares in front of Kuemper. The centremen slid a backhander past the goalie’s outstretched pad to put Toronto back in front 3-2.
Los Angeles turned up the pressure in the third, firing 16 shots at the Toronto net. One of them, an Alex Laferriere deflection, beat Hidelby to tie the game 3-3.
The game went to overtime, and 35 seconds into the extra frame, Quinton Byfield blasted home a one-timer off a feed from Drew Doughty to end the game, 4-3.
Next Up: The Leafs head to Chicago Saturday night to face the Blackhawks and Connor Bedard.
