TORONTO – If you want to win a hockey game in the NHL, you gotta play all 60 minutes. Or, in the case of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night, a good 20 will do.
The Leafs came back from the dead against the high-flying Pittsburgh Penguins for an improbable 4-3 victory after being down 3-0 after two periods of lifeless hockey that saw them being outshot 25-8.
A pessimist would say the game was a symptom of a flawed Toronto team that just isn't the same since Mitch Marner was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights over the summer. An optimist might say the Leafs found themselves in that third period.
"It shows how good we can be," said right winger Bobby McMann, who scored the game-winning goal. "That third period is how we need to play all the time. We need to be smart with our puck decisions, continue to work hard and with speed, be competitive and hungry."
Outside of McMann, Toronto's other goals came from their superstars: Auston Matthews got the comeback started, while William Nylander notched the next two to stun the Penguins, which had been sailing along through 40 minutes.
Nylander had returned to the lineup after a brief injury, and his presence was obvious.
"He's a gamer," McMann said. "He knows how to play in those big moments and contribute and he did just that tonight."
Just as impressive was Matthews' performance. Not only did he help offensively, but he was a demon on the PK during a crucial kill in the third period, one which could have turned the tide back in favor of Pittsburgh. Matthews was tenacious on the puck-carrier and used his big frame to bully Pittsburgh's point man out of the zone to relieve pressure.
"He's blocking shots, snapping draws back, getting his stick in lanes and disrupting plays," said goalie Anthony Stolarz. "For him to lead by example is huge for us."
So what happened between the second and third period? How did the Leafs turn things around so dramatically?
"Just energy, passion and emotion," Matthews said. "The first two periods weren't pretty, we couldn't really get much going on either side of the puck. The message for the third period was 'Go work, get one goal and see what happens.' I'm proud of the way we fought back, but obviously you don't want to put yourself in that position to begin with, so that's something we want to clean up right away."
That second intermission also featured players and coach Craig Berube voicing displeasure regarding what had occurred to that point.
" 'Chief' came in and said a few things – you can use your imagination on that," Stolarz said. "We're big boys, we knew that wasn't our game."
So now the Maple Leafs find themselves top-three in the Atlantic Division after a scuffling start to the campaign.
Will they take the lessons they learned in the Pittsburgh win and build off them? That would certainly go a long way in helping this particular Toronto squad establish an identity.
There's a lot of hockey to be played, but if the Leafs have begun to figure out who they are and what will make this cast successful, they'll be playing more than just regular-season games once again.
For
action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue,
subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by
subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on
THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
