It was an afternoon delight for fans, but not the coaches, as Toronto defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-5 in overtime on Sunday.
A roller coaster game of defensive mistakes ended with William Nylander giving Toronto a fifth straight win, including all four on their road trip, to stay ahead of Florida for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Playoff-desperate Pittsburgh, which had allowed an NHL-high 13 goals on the first shot of the game, had Joel Blomqvist stop the afternoon’s initial puck, but moments later, Max Domi tapped in a freebie. It came on the winger’s 30th birthday and ended a 27-game drought since Dec. 20.
Another long individual goal gap ended 2:24 later, when Leafs defenceman Conor Timmins moved up to bury his first in 35 games.
Pittsburgh roared back with three goals before the period ended — Cody Glass, Rickard Rakell and, on the power play, Sidney Crosby.
Auston Matthews then passed Darryl Sittler for second place in Leafs franchise goals, with his 390th, after getting just one empty netter since Jan. 22. But the tie was broken by Bryan Rust late in the frame as vocal fans for both sides had duelling chants going at PPG Paints Arena.
Just when it seemed Pittsburgh would take a lead into the room again, defenceman Jake McCabe found John Tavares for a breakaway goal in the last minute. And with a decimal point remaining, Matthew Knies intercepted an Erik Karlsson gamble from a Leafs defensive zone draw with 5.7 ticks to go, raced the length of the ice and had presence of mind to shoot before the green light signaled end of play.
Incredibly, Toronto let its guard down again to open the third, as Rakell, a noted Leaf burner, fought around Matthews to knot it again. Leafs goalie Joseph Woll, who had missed his scheduled rotation start Friday in New York, did not look comfortable all game.
It was the first game this season that fourth-line energy winger Steven Lorentz was scratched as Connor Dewar came back from an upper body injury to take his place. Calle Jarnkrok is expected to come off injured reserve Monday for the first time this season on Monday at home against San Jose.
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