Toronto Maple Leafs Come From Behind To Beat San Jose Sharks 5-3

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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GAME SUMMARY         |           EVENT SUMMARY        |           FACEOFF SUMMARY

ON THE SCORESHEET

–       John Tavares opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs at 2:10 of the first period. Tavares has goals (4) in four consecutive games and points (5-5-10) in seven consecutive games. He has scored the first goal of the game on three occasions this season, which leads the Maple Leafs.

–       Kasperi Kapanen scored Toronto’s second goal of the night at 11:47 of the first period before adding the Maple Leafs’ fourth goal of the night while shorthanded at 12:06 of the second period. Tonight’s game is Kapanen’s second career multi-goal game. His second period goal is the second shorthanded goal of his career and his first shorthanded goal of 2018-19.

–       Josh Leivo scored the third Maple Leafs goal of the night at 2:30 of the second period. Leivo has two goals and four points this season. Both of his goals have been scored on the road in 2018-19.

–       Mitch Marner recorded the primary assist on Tavares’ first period goal and later had the primary assist on Kapanen’s second period goal before scoring the fifth Toronto goal of the game at 13:54 of the third period. Marner has assists (5) in three consecutive games. He has recorded 17 primary assists this season, which leads the NHL. Marner has three goals in five games against Pacific Division opponents this season.

–       Morgan Rielly picked up the secondary assist on Tavares’ first period goal. Rielly has assists (4) and points (2-4-6) in four consecutive games. He leads all NHL defencemen in points (8-16-24).

–       Patrick Marleau registered the primary assist on Kapanen’s first period goal. Marleau’s assist is his first career point against the San Jose Sharks. He has recorded at least one point against all 31 NHL teams.

–       Travis Dermott had the secondary assist on Kapanen’s first period goal. Dermott has assists (2) in two consecutive games.

–       Tyler Ennis recorded the primary assist on Leivo’s second period goal. Ennis has two points over his last four games. He has four points (2 goals, 2 assists) in 16 games this season.

–       Frederik Gauthier picked up the secondary assist on Leivo’s second period goal. Gauthier’s assist is his first point of the 2018-19 season. In 2017-18, he had one goal in nine games with the Maple Leafs.

–       Frederik Andersen recorded the lone assist on Marner’s third period goal. Andersen’s assist is his first of the 2018-19 season. He has eight assists in 273 career NHL games. 

–       Frederik Andersen stopped 42 shots to earn his 11th win of the season. He leads all NHL goaltenders in wins.

SHOTS FIRED

–       The Sharks had a 45-34 lead in shots on goal in all situations and a 35-26 edge in shots on goal at 5-on-5.

–       San Jose had a 72-71 lead in shot attempts in all situations, while the Maple Leafs had a 56-54 lead in shot attempts at 5-on-5.

–       Andreas Johnsson, Kasperi Kapanen, Patrick Marleau and Mitch Marner each registered four shots on goal.

–       Par Lindholm and Patrick Marleau each had a team-high seven shot attempts.  

SHOTS ON GOAL

SHOT ATTEMPTS

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

–       The Maple Leafs are 8-1-0 on the road this season.

–       Toronto’s all-time record is 22-21-5-2 in 50 games against the Sharks and 9-12-3-0 in 24 games played in San Jose.

–       The Maple Leafs earned their first win in San Jose since Jan. 11, 2011 (Toronto 4, San Jose 2).

–       Toronto is 8-3-0 against the Western Conference this season and 4-1-0 against the Pacific Division.

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

RECORD WHEN…

–          The Maple Leafs were 2-for-3 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play tonight. Toronto is 6-2-0 when allowing one power play goal this season and 5-3-0 when not scoring a power play goal.

–          Toronto is 8-0-0 when scoring the first goal of the game.

–          The Maple Leafs are 3-3-0 when trailing after one period and 10-0-0 when leading after two periods.

–          Toronto has a 7-2-0 record when outshot by their opponent.

–          The Maple Leafs are 2-2-0 in Thursday games.

OF NOTE…

–          Ron Hainsey was 1-for-1 (100%) in the faceoff circle for the Maple Leafs. He is the second defenceman in the NHL (Mikhail Sergachev) to win a draw in 2018-19.

–          Connor Brown and Par Lindholm started 11.1 percent of their 5-on-5 shifts in the offensive zone, which was the lowest mark among Toronto skaters.

–          Igor Ozhiganov was on the ice for a team-high 24 Toronto shot attempts-for at 5-on-5. Ozhiganov finished the game with a 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 50 percent (24 for, 24 against).

–          Par Lindholm won 78 percent (7 won, 2 lost) of his faceoffs when matched up against San Jose centre Joe Thornton.

UPCOMING GAMES:

–       Friday, November 16, 10:00 p.m., at Anaheim Ducks (TSN4, TSN 1050)

–       Monday, November 19, 7:00 p.m., vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (Sportsnet Ontario, TSN 1050)

–       Wednesday, November 21, 7:00 p.m., at Carolina Hurricanes (Sportsnet, FAN 590)

–       Friday, November 23, 7:00 p.m., at Columbus Blue Jackets (TSN4, TSN 1050)

–       Saturday, November 24, 7:00 p.m., vs. Philadelphia Flyers (Hockey Night in Canada, FAN 590)

POSTGAME QUOTES:

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

On tonight’s game:

I thought we did a good job. Obviously, we had good discipline and I thought we played pretty good. It was a good win, it’s always hard to win in here, they’ve got a good hockey club and a real active back end. I thought we got good goaltending and pretty good specialty teams and found a way to win.

On coming back from a deficit at the first intermission:

Well, I mean, we started real good and then we stopped playing in the last 10 and we just said instead of getting involved in all the crap, why don’t we just play because we’re quicker than them? So, in the end, when we got refocused, we got playing better. I thought our second period was our best.

On the getting production from the third and fourth lines:

I thought they were good tonight. I thought [Lindholm]’s line was the best they’ve been, but I thought [Gauthier]’s line was effective as well. We had good depth and that’s important.

FREDERIK ANDERSEN (42 SAVES)

On recording an assist on Mitch Marner’s third period goal:

Yeah, it’s fun. Fun to get some points on the season total. It was a great shot by Mitch [Marner].  I saw him out there and I figured I’d try to catch him on the change. That turned out to be a big goal.

On the satisfaction of recording his first win in San Jose:

I wasn’t really too aware of it. It’s obviously a tough building to come to, but that was huge. The second and third period was a great response by us. I mean, we played pretty well in the first but they were able to score on some nice passing and a bounce there but I thought we responded really well and dominated a big part of the rest of the way.

KASPERI KAPANEN (2 GOALS)

On the effectiveness of the Maple Leafs speed tonight:

I think we used our speed pretty well. I don’t think they really could handle us in their zone. We were just trying to chip it in there and just hold onto pucks. I think all-in-all it was a pretty solid game for us today and, obviously, Freddie [Andersen] made some big saves. Good win.

On coming close to a hat trick after being stopped on a third period breakaway attempt:

Yeah, I mean, obviously I tried to do something there. It wasn’t my best, but two goals is pretty good.

JOSH LEIVO (1 GOAL)

On scoring his goal:

I think the L.A. game, there was a couple of good chances there. [Ennis] gave me that quick feed and I just knew I had to get it off right away. I knew he was coming out to challenge so it was fortunate to go in. Obviously, good to help the team.

On the importance of the fourth line chipping in with a goal:

I feel we’re not playing as much so anytime we can spark the boys a bit, it’s a great help. I think we played really well down low, before the goal anyways. I think it was a long time coming. [Ennis] almost had one too, so good game.

On tonight’s game:

I think it was a hard-fought battle between both teams. Obviously, we had a couple of extra bounces that went in but Fred [Andersen] stood behind us and shut the door.

PATRICK MARLEAU (1 ASSIST)

On the importance of a strong start to the game:

We wanted to get off to a strong start tonight and the guys did that. We were obviously able to get on the board early so that was good.

On returning to San Jose for the second time:

It felt the same. Pretty emotional. Being on the other side for so many years then coming on this side, it’s a little different. I’m just glad we got the two points tonight. Everybody played great.