Toronto showed lots of fight at the end, but left it too late in a 5-4 loss to end its Western U.S. road trip with a record of 1-1-1.
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The Maple Leafs gave themselves a Mammoth task on Tuesday, coming back from three three-goal deficits.
That they made a game of it at all in Salt Lake City was a positive in ending a Western road trip with three of a possible six points, the minimum haul they wanted. They were in it to the end, given a 6-on-4 power play with a Grade A chance to force overtime before time expired Tuesday in the 5-4 final.
After defeating the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, two days of rest in scenic Utah seemed to have an adverse effect on Toronto after two periods. The Mammoth was up 3-0 before NHL player of the week Auston Matthews clicked with the extra man, but even that was tainted a bit by the Toronto’s second unit allowing a short-handed goal to Mikhail Sergachev.
The Leafs moved within two again when Matthews set up Jack Roslovic to give the captain 11 points in the past four games. Anthony Stolarz, victorious in his first two starts, gave up the fifth goal in 16 shots to MacKenzie Weegar’s stoppable wrister in the last minute of the second.
Leafs have home dates with Sabres, Islanders and Sharks
Stolarz atoned with a perfect 12 saves, also sending away John Tavares with a bank pass off the boards for a rush power play goal. Tavares, who flew home in the middle of the trip to be with his wife after she gave birth to their fourth child, then gained the line to start a sequence of passes from Darren Raddysh to William Nylander and finally Gavin McKenna. That gave the rookie a four-game points streak and enough time to win after killing a fourth penalty.
The Leafs, who’ve not won back-to-back away since last February, saw a bit of road history repeat itself from last season, beating Colorado and giving up six to the Mammoth for an aggregate of 11-5. The Leafs were all over Karel Vejmelka in the dying seconds, a wide-open Kirill Marchenko having the puck bounce off his stick with an open side.
Toronto has home dates with Buffalo, the New York Islanders and San Jose in the next seven days.
Coach Jim Hiller, trying to compensate for the loss of defenceman Chris Tanev on Saturday, used call-up Marshall Rifai as a seventh rearguard, scratching Bo Groulx and going with 11 forwards.
X: @sunhornby
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