Maple Leafs score three power-play goals in shootout win against Ducks

TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs scored three power-play goals in a 4-3 shootout win against the Anaheim Ducks at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.

Jason Spezza and Auston Matthews scored in the shootout for Toronto, which is 2-1 in shootouts this season. Trevor Zegras scored for Anaheim, which is 3-4.
"I thought we were really good on special teams and I thought we played pretty well too, creating lots of chances and lots of good opportunities," Matthews said. "Their goalie played well. All in all, a pretty solid game. Obviously we would liked to have kept it in regulation, but solid work by the group to get the extra point."
Mitchell Marner scored for the fourth straight game, and Jack Campbell made 17 saves for the Maple Leafs (26-10-3), who were playing their first home game since Jan. 5 after going 3-2-1 on a six-game road trip.
"I had no issues with our game today," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "Obviously there's things every game that you want to do better but I for the most part liked a lot about our game today. I thought we were in control of the play for most of the game. The only thing we didn't do was score at 5-on-5. We had a lot of chances and their goaltender was good. Our penalty killing was good when it needed to be, and the power play was outstanding, so lots of good things to take away from the game today."

Sam Steel had a goal and an assist, and John Gibson made 41 saves for the Ducks (21-16-8).
"We've got to thank 'Gibby' for that," Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg said. "He made, I don't know, how many Grade-A scoring chances he saved for us tonight. Obviously not a good performance by any means for us, but we got a point. We knew we were playing a good team but obviously we can go a lot better than we did tonight. Getting the one point with a chance of two was huge tonight. Not every game of the year is going to be your best, but we know coming in tomorrow [at the Montreal Canadiens], we've got to play a lot better."
Silfverberg cut it to 3-2 at 17:21 of the second period when he took a drop pass from Buddy Robinson on a 3-on-1 and scored from the left circle shortly after exiting of the penalty box.
"I'll own that one. We call a timeout, our power play was feeling it so much, I just thought, call a timeout and let those guys [Matthews, John Tavares, William Nylander and Marner] go out for the last whatever was left," Keefe said. "They were great, had a couple good looks, hit the post and then overdid it at the end. You need to get a line change towards the end there and that's something our second unit is accustomed to doing. I failed to point that out to our guys to be mindful of that because that group isn't used to being out there at the end of the power play when it expires."
The Ducks tied it 3-3 at 13:23 of the third period when Vinni Lettieri deflected a point shot from Kevin Shattenkirk.

The Maple Leafs scored on the power play at 19:21 of the first period to go ahead 2-1 when Nylander one-timed a pass in the slot from Tavares, who was behind the net.
Toronto outshot Anaheim 17-5 in the first period and 31-11 after the second.
"We're not in that game, we don't get to overtime without [Gibson]," Shattenkirk said. "I think we came out with a much better effort in the third period to tie the game up and he was able to stand tall in overtime. I just wish we were able to get that extra goal for him."
Tavares shot from the slot after taking a pass from Marner while on a 5-on-3 power play to make it 3-1 at 16:08 of the second period.
"Toronto is a great team with a lot of high skill, but I think we almost gave them a little too much respect tonight early in the game," Shattenkirk said.

The Ducks took a 1-0 lead at 2:46 first period when Maple Leafs forward Pierre Engvall attempted to clear a loose puck from the goal crease but hit Spezza in the slot and had the puck ricochet into the net. Steel was credited with the goal after his shot created the loose puck.
Marner tied it 1-1 at 17:18 when he one-timed a pass from Morgan Rielly on the power play.
"I just kind of curled up high and I was calling for it from 'Mo'," Marner said. "Lucky enough it got through all the traffic there and went in. Our power play was working tonight. The puck was moving fast and we had guys locked in and getting into spots quickly."
NOTES: Maple Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren left the game for precautionary reasons after a collision with Zegras at 14:27 of the first period. Keefe said he is being assessed for a head injury and will continue to be monitored. He did not rule out Liljegren being available for practice Friday. … Campbell won his 20th game, the first time he has done that in his seven NHL seasons. The only goalie in Maple Leafs history to reach 20 wins in fewer games than Campbell (30) was George Hainsworth (28, 1934-35). … The game was played without fans due to COVID-19 regulations in Ontario.