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Monday, October 23, 2017

{allcanada} Maple Leafs hang on, end Kings win streak

 

TORONTO -- Patrick Marleau scored at 2:54 of the third period to help the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Air Canada Centre on Monday.

Frederik Andersen made 36 saves, Mitchell Marner had two assists and Matt Martin and Tyler Bozak scored for the Maple Leafs (7-2-0), who have won four of their past five games.

"It's important to win. When you drop the ball like we did against Ottawa (6-3 loss on Saturday), I'm not taking anything away from Ottawa, but we were no good and when you do that, you want to respond," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought we responded tonight, but I also thought it was important against a team that hadn't lost (in regulation) and was playing well. I thought it was a good matchup for us tonight and an important game to find a way to play right."

Adrian Kempe and Trevor Lewis scored and Jonathan Quick made 30 saves for Los Angeles (6-1-1), which saw its four-game win streak end and lost in regulation for the first time this season. The Kings had tied a franchise record previously set in 1995-96 with points in seven straight games to start a season.

The Kings outshot the Maple Leafs 17-10 in the first period, but Toronto led 1-0 at intermission. Martin scored his first goal of the season at 5:46 when he deflected a point shot from Roman Polak past Quick. The Kings challenged for goaltender interference, but the goal was upheld upon video review.

"The start was what we wanted, but we just didn't get rewarded in the first period. I think we had some good looks," Kings captain Anze Kopitar said. "That first power play was good, we were moving the puck. We got some chances 5-on-5 too, but we just couldn't put it in the net. They got that deflection goal and it's a bit of a momentum swing. The first period was good, we just didn't cash in."

Bozak scored a power-play goal at 14:44 of the second period, but Kempe scored for the Kings 58 seconds later to make it 2-1.

Marner scored at 2:28 of the third period, but the goal was waved off because of goaltender inference. The Maple Leafs challenged the call, but it was upheld upon review.

But Marleau deflected a point shot from Morgan Rielly past Quick 25 seconds later to give the Maple Leafs a 3-1 lead.

Lewis scored a shorthanded goal for Los Angeles at 12:19 to make it 3-2.

Quick was replaced by Darcy Kuemper with 1:11 left in the first period after a collision with Zach Hyman. He returned 37 seconds later to complete the period.

Kuemper made one save.

 

Goal of the game

Marleau scored his fourth goal of the season when he skated from behind the net and reached around Kings defenseman Alec Martinez at the top of the goal crease to deflect Rielly's shot for what proved to be the game-winning goal.

 

Save of the game

Andersen kept the Maple Leafs ahead 1-0 at 11:15 of the second period when he slid across to his right and stretched out his pad to make a toe save on Tanner Pearson at the side of the net after he was set up by Martinez on a pass from the top of the right circle.

 

Highlight of the game

Marner carried the puck into the zone on the right wing and went around the net before sending a pass to Roman Polak at the point. Martin got away from Pearson in front of the net to deflect the shot.

 

They said it

"I think we did some good things tonight, but there's some areas we need to clean up a bit. We turned pucks over down low in our zone that I think could have been exits, so I'd like to certainly get that cleaned up. Special teams, we thought we would be a factor tonight. We scored a shorthanded goal, gave up a power-play goal, so we'd like to get our power play going again and clean up our penalty kill a little bit." -- Kings coach John Stevens

 

"A few games together now, you really start to understand where Mitch (Marner) is looking and what he's trying to do and you want to get him the puck as quick as possible and just try to find some space because he's so good at making plays. He's one of the elite playmakers in the League." -- Maple Leafs forward Matt Martin on Mitchell Marner

 

Need to know

Polak, who signed a one-year, $1.1 million contract on Sunday, played 12:13, had an assist and was plus-1 in his season debut. It was his first game since breaking his right leg in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round series against the Washington Capitals last season. … Kopitar led all forwards in ice time at 22:46 and was 12-for-22 (55 percent) on faceoffs.

 

What's next

Kings: At the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; RDSI, TSN5, FS-W, NHL.TV)

Maple Leafs: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SNO, FS-CR, NHL.TV)

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