Maple Leafs’ John Tavares shows composure late in rally

Article content

Some of the worst hockey the Maple Leafs have played in 48 hours and five periods under Craig Berube will be in the rearview mirror when they watch the third period and overtime of Wednesday’s 4-3 win at Washington.

Article content

It was the Leafs’ first road win while trailing by multiple goals with less than five minutes remaining since Dec. 6, 2010, also in Washington.

Our takeaways:

JOHNNY ON SITE

His contract status for next season is unknown, but John Tavares is proving he still has a huge role to play on the Leafs.

Much of that wild comeback came through him, not to mention the game-winning goal, but taking 23 faceoffs, the vast majority, and getting a nice assist on Bobby McMann’s first goal on their revamped line with Mitch Marner after the entire team missed Tuesday’s 3. -0 shutout loss against Ottawa.

It was Tavares’ 77th game win, tying Patrick Kane for sixth among active NHL skaters, and his 18th in overtime. Only Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Brad Marchand and Jaromir Jagr have more.

Article content

Article content

It’s clear he still has the calmness of a captain and even though Auston Matthews now wears the “C” when healthy, there was a lot of anger on the Toronto bench that needed to calm down while two disallowed goals almost doomed the comeback. Tavares remained on guard while coach Bérubé became very angry with the officials on the ice and in the war room in Toronto.

“We talked about staying with it,” Tavares told Sportsnet. “Their lead grew and a few didn’t count, but we found a way. Good character wins and bounces back.

“There’s a moment or two (with disallowed goals) where we don’t like it, but hockey operations and officials try to do their job.”

VISUALLY AGGRAVING

This can’t be the way the NHL envisioned the replay with such long delays. Once or twice a game is annoying enough, but there were ultimately three goal reviews and a double minor erased on Wednesday.

Article content

Try as hard as you can to get it right, but don’t let teams get too stiff on the bench, keep the fans riled up, and keep playing Call Me by Blondie on repeat in the arena while you wait for Toronto’s critics to lift the thumb. or down.

It appears the calls were leveled, but it wasn’t exactly Nic Dowd’s assault and battery on Joseph Woll when he tried to avoid big Toronto defender Jani Hakanpaa and the goalie when Woll lost track of John Carlson’s nasty training.

Matthew Knies was properly absolved of a minor double stick when his arm inadvertently caught a Washington player in the face, but Knies also didn’t appear to score what would have been a goal in the third period, his blade under the rod. And this had to be the most subtle kicking move if Steven Lorentz really wanted to direct a bang-bang rebound with his leg as he passed in front of the net.

Article content

But since two calls had already gone against the Caps, the Leafs couldn’t complain too much in this case. Knies was the most controversial, he initially ruled a goal so concrete evidence was needed to overturn it. It was the timeouts that slowed down the game, although they probably helped the tired visitors.

“That’s how it is,” William Nylander later told the media.

WOLL IS BIG

If Ovie falls one goal short of reaching Wayne Gretzky’s record, at least this season, he might rethink Woll’s overtime save on Wednesday.

The play was on Ovie’s stick, after a rather quiet evening, but he had the gun loaded for No. 864 and to get within 30 of Gretzky and win the night. But Woll came out and gave the Great Eight nothing to shoot at, with the rebound going to Tavares.

Article content

“Joe is a heck of a goalie and when you have one of the best scorers coming your way, those are the opportunities you relish at this level,” Tavares said.

It was important for Woll’s role overall to follow a rare loss of Anthony Stolarz with an effort like Wednesday’s.

Why Washington’s Logan Thompson didn’t come out to drop the puck before Tavares caught him is a mystery, as was Ilya Samsonov for Toronto in Game 7 of the playoffs in Boston.

MAX CAN’T GET A BREAK

The comeback victory will take some pressure off Max Domi, who was replaced at center by Tavares in a bid to snap an 11-game goalless streak, but saw him go for a career-worst 12.

He had a breakaway on Thompson in the first period that could have changed his luck greatly, but couldn’t get over the glove. He got another chance with Nylander and Knies, but couldn’t contribute offensively again in Matthews’ absence.

Bérubé rode hard on the top two lines despite playing the night before, but Marlie caller Alex Steeves did well in his season debut, almost scoring in the first period.

Hakanpaa also made his season debut, his first game since March with Dallas when his knee was sore. Paired with Morgan Rielly, he played 15:36, with a few shots on goal, a block and a minus-one.

[email protected]

Article content