TORONTO — Auston Matthews hit a milestone and Michael Bunting bagged his second straight two-goal game, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Toronto Maple Leafs’ mistakes in back-and-forth affair with the St. Louis Blues.
The Leafs emerged from their first shootout of the year 6-5 losers to the visiting Blues on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena. One week after the same squads waged a goal-filled game in St. Louis that saw the Leafs leave 5-4 winners, the Blues and Buds combined for six goals in a wild second period during a contest in which Toronto kept fighting back from two-goal deficits, only to come up short in the one-on-one contest.
“Probably not our prettiest game,” said Matthews, who became the fastest player in franchise history to hit the 500-point mark. “Just some competitive parts weren’t there at times. And at times they were and you could see we’d begin to take over the game. I think there were just too many lost battles. They were heavy on pucks and they were competing, so I thought just a little bit of an uglier game for us.”
It certainly didn’t start well, with Brandon Saad getting his first of two on the night while the Blues were shorthanded less than five minutes into the contest. The St. Louis winger ducked past Mitch Marner and slipped the puck right through the wickets of Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov. The visitors then built on their lead later in the frame when a point shot on the power play by Jordan Kyrou caromed off Leaf Alex Kerfoot and Blue Brayden Schenn before going in the net. Throw in a another man-advantage marker for Kyrou — who now has 14 points in his past seven games — early in the second period and you can guess which part of his team’s game Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe was disappointed in.
“I thought special teams were a mess for us,” Keefe said. “So that kind of throws the game off. Scores go way up and [you’re] feeling, probably, a little bit worse than you should because you’re pulling it out of your net three times.”
Once thing is for sure, the man standing in Toronto’s crease certainly didn’t sound like a guy who felt great about the way he performed. “Tough game for me,” said Samsonov, who had an .852 save percentage in his past three outings coming into this contest. “Again.”
For his part, Keefe wasn’t laying blame at the feet of his goalie. Other than the game-opening goal, he thought the Russian did what he could on a night neither team was exactly playing lock-down D.
“I’d like to see him get the first save on the shorthanded goal, I know it’s not the easiest save because he’s moving, but you’d like a save on that one,” Keefe said. “Aside from that, I don’t know if there’s a lot he can do.”
Credit the Leafs, they certainly did all they were capable of on the offensive side of the puck to squeeze a win out of this one. Just 1:29 after Kyrou made it 3-1 Blues, William Nylander destroyed a puck from the high slot to pull the Leafs back within one. It was on that play that Matthews, suiting up for the 445th time in Blue and White, collected his 500th point by teeing his linemate up for the one-timer.
“I think there’s definitely some special meaning behind it just with the history of this organization, the players that have come and worn this jersey before us,” the 25-year-old said. “I’ve been fortunate every year to play with some great players, have a great team around us, so it definitely means a lot.”
Things got real hairy in the middle part of the second stanza when the teams exchanged three goals just 1:17 apart. Former Leaf Josh Leivo restored St. Louis’ two-goal advantage before Bunting struck right back 17 seconds later, as a puck bounced off Blues defenceman Niko Mikkola right to Bunting at the side of the goal. Then came Saad’s second of the contest on a laser shot from the high slot, as St. Louis opened up its third two-goal advantage of the game.
But before 40 minutes were in the books, Matthews registered point No. 501 by snapping a shot past Jordan Binnington on the goalie’s glove-hand side. When the second period came to a close, Toronto had actually scored on 25 per cent of its 16 attempts on goal. Then, after drawing a high-sticking call on Robert Thomas 6:54 into the third, Bunting went to work in his office, taking a feed from Nylander just outside the blue ice of Binnington’s crease and whipping a puck home to make it 5-5.
Suddenly the guy who had just two goals through his first 16 games this year has four in his past two outings, 13 on the year and 19 points in his past 17 contests following his three-point showing.
“He lives around the net and obviously he’s a competitive guy and fights for loose change,” Matthews said. “He’s really upped his competitiveness in the last couple of weeks and he’s been a huge part in our success as a team and as a line.”
The trio of Matthews between Nylander and Bunting was definitely a bright spot again, as Nylander recorded a 1-2-3 stat line to take the team lead in points at 45, one ahead of Matthews.
“When all three of us are kind of rolling, competing and playing all over the ice, I think that’s when we’re at our most dangerous,” Matthews said.
Unfortunately for the home side, nobody was able to pop one during the three-on-three overtime. And just as the game itself featured lots of scoring, the shootout produced five goals in eight total attempts and didn’t end until Schenn beat Samsonov for one final tally.
Lots of goals, a few too many lapses, but still some positives for a Leafs team that lost for the first time when scoring four or more goals this season after previously being 15-0 under those circumstances.
“I like the way that we kept coming back,” Keefe said. “After costing us early in the game the power play comes through for us [in the third]to make sure we get the point. Not a night we’re going to love too much, but fortunate to get the one point.”
