TORONTO — The Maple Leafs didn’t feel like they had played a bad first period after trudging off the ice to a chorus of boos Monday.
As head coach Sheldon Keefe would later explain: “Puck just kept going in the net.”
With an intermission to reset after falling behind the Lightning 4-1 — a scoreline with plenty of history for a franchise facing a fifth straight loss in a market ready to hammer on the panic button — Toronto steadied itself.
And then responded in kind.
Calle Jarnkrok scored his second goal of the night 46 seconds into overtime as the Leafs picked up a wild 6-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“We don’t have any quit in this locker room,” said Toronto winger Mitch Marner, who had a goal and three assists. “A lot of trust in our group that, regardless of the situation, we’re never out of a game.”
Auston Matthews added two goals and an assist for Toronto (6-4-2), while Matthew Knies had a goal and two assists.
Morgan Rielly chipped in with two assists of his own as the Leafs snapped a four-game slide (0-2-2) — a stretch that included more questions about the team’s willingness to stand up for each other following an injury suffered by defenceman Timothy Liljegren on a questionable play involving Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand.
Ilya Samsonov allowed four goals on 12 shots in just over 15 minutes of action before getting the hook. Joseph Woll made 18 stops in relief to pick up the victory.
“There are a lot of things that haven’t gone good for us in the season,” Keefe said. “But we’ve responded in those moments a lot and kept going.
“Really proud of the way the guys stepped up.”
Jarnkrok scored his third goal of the campaign in the extra period after taking a pass from Rielly and redirecting the puck past Jonas Johansson.
The two-goal performance came after there was plenty of discussion about Toronto’s lack of secondary scoring outside of Matthews, who already has three hat tricks, Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares.
“Tough for Matty to have a hat trick every game,” Jarnkrok said with a grin. “Good for the rest of us to get a couple.”
Nikita Kucherov had two goals and two assists for Tampa (5-3-4). Victor Hedman added a goal and two assists, while Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel each had a goal and an assist. Johansson made 28 saves for the Lightning, who held a closed-door meeting after the game.
“It’s getting embarrassing at this point,” Hagel said of another ugly third period for Tampa, which also blew a 3-1 lead at home before losing in OT to Toronto last month.
Down 4-3 through 40 minutes, the Leafs got even at 1:55 of the third when Jarnkrok buried the rebound of a shot off the stick of Nick Robertson, who was recalled from the American Hockey League earlier in the day.
With the crowd at Scotiabank Arena still buzzing, Marner then snapped his fifth upstairs on Johansson just eight seconds later for a lead that seemed unlikely after that disastrous first.
The Leafs appeared to be in control late, but Hagel tied things 5-5 with his seventh with 2:26 remaining before Jarnkrok won it.
“Just shows the resilience in our group,” said Knies, who was promoted to the top line Monday. “That was a fun atmosphere.”
Toronto jumped in front 1-0 at 3:42 of the first when the rookie winger scored his third, but Hedman tied it with his third just 35 seconds later.
Kucherov, who had five points in Saturday’s 6-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators, then fired a puck that somehow got through Samsonov at 6:11.
Tampa went to the power play after the Leafs were assessed their fourth too many men on the ice penalty of the campaign, and Kucherov blasted a one-timer at 11:27 for a 3-1 lead.
The crowd gave its goalie a mock cheer on a long shot moments later, and Point’s power-play goal from the slot at 15:13 spelled the end of the night for Samsonov, who slammed his mask before the Leafs were booed off the ice at the intermission.
“I have all the faith in the world in this team to come back,” Woll said of his mindset coming off the bench. “We’ve showed it many times. Just trying to do my job and give us the best chance.”
Toronto, which downed Tampa in last spring’s playoffs for the franchise’s first series victory in nearly two decades, got some life at 2:23 of the second when Matthews fired his 12th goal in 12 games with Knies screening Johansson, who has seen the majority of the work with Andrei Vasilevskiy out following back surgery.
Matthews then took a no-look, backhand pass from Knies and slid his 13th home at 5:42 before emphatically gesturing to the crowd.
“After the first, just the energy and boos and stuff — rightfully so,” he said of his celebration.
“But didn’t want them to go to sleep quite yet.”
MORE MILESTONES
Marner’s 15th career four-point game tied Frank Mahovlich for the second most in franchise history behind Darryl Sittler, who did it 26 times.
William Nylander picked up an assist on the winner to extend his franchise record point streak to start a season to 12 games.
VASSY INCHING CLOSER
Tampa has mostly weathered the storm without Vasilevskiy, who underwent back surgery in late September.
Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said after Monday’s morning skate the 2019 Vezina Trophy winner remains on course to return to action later this month.
“Making great progress,” Cooper said. “He’d rather be doing more than he can right now, but the timeline is the same.”
Tampa has been backstopped by Johansson and third option Matt Tomkins. If the latter’s name sounds familiar, the 29-year-old from Edmonton posted a shutout and a .963 save percentage for Canada at the 2022 Beijing Olympics when the NHL stayed away because of COVID-19.
UP NEXT
The Lightning visit Montreal on Tuesday, while the Leafs host Ottawa on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2023.
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