Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov (35), defenceman Morgan Rielly (44) and centre Zach Aston-Reese (12) defend against St. Louis Blues left wing Josh Leivo (17) during first period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Tuesday, January 3, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
TORONTO – Brayden Schenn scored on the power play and again in the shootout to lift the St. Louis Blues over the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 on Tuesday.
Schenn put away the winner after Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich had both scored on Maple Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov.
Brandon Saad scored twice, including one short-handed, for an undermanned St. Louis (18-17-3) squad. Jordan Kyrou and Josh Leivo also chipped in.
Jordan Binnington made 20 saves, including extra time, for the win in net.
Michael Bunting scored twice, including on a power play, for Toronto (23-8-7). Pierre Engvall, William Nylander, and Auston Matthews added goals.
Matthews also assisted on Nylander’s goal for the 500th and 501st points of his career.
Samsonov stopped 27 shots in regulation and overtime.
Saad opened the scoring just 4:52 into the game, stripping Leafs captain John Tavares of the puck by the boards and then breaking in on the net. Schenn was credited with a power-play goal with 6:59 left to play in the first after a puck deflected off his skate and into Toronto’s net.
Engvall answered back for the Leafs with 2:52 left in the first. Alex Kerfoot sent a high pass in from the top of the faceoff circle and Engvall, tied up with a Blues defender, got some of his stick on the puck to knock it past Binnington. The play happened so fast that David Kampf, Engvall’s linemate, swept what looked like a rebound off of Binnington back into the net not realizing that it was actually bouncing out of the netting itself.
A wild second period saw the two teams combine for six goals, including three in a 77-second span.
Kyrou made it 3-1 for St. Louis 3:09 into the second. Schenn fired a hard wrist shot on Samsonov and the rebound came out into a mess of Leafs defenders. The puck trickled out to Kyrou, who took advantage of the confusion to snap it into the net.
As Kyrou’s goal was still being announced over the public-address system Nylander scored for Toronto. Bunting passed from behind the goal line out to Nylander at the point. He was waiting with his stick up, ready for a slapshot, with his blast easily getting past Binnington.
That goal brought the 18,553 fans at Scotiabank Arena to life, with chants of “Go Leafs Go!” raining down from the upper bowl.
Leivo picked up his own rebound off of Samsonov’s pad at the 9:32 mark of the second to make it 4-2 for the Blues. Bunting replied for Toronto 17 seconds later, putting a rebound past Binnington. A minute later, Saad snapped a shot from the slot to once again give St. Louis a two-goal lead.
Matthews cut into the Blues’ lead again shortly after to make it 5-4. Nylander sent a cross-ice pass to Matthews who glided on one skate to receive the puck and snap a wrist shot into the net.
Bunting tied it 5-5 on a power play 7:55 into the third period. He converted on a feed from Nylander, sliding a puck past Binnington for his second of the night.
WOUNDED BLUES
St. Louis limped into Scotiabank Arena after putting star forward Vladimir Tarasenko (hand) and captain Ryan O’Reilly (broken foot) on the injured reserve on Monday. They joined defenceman Torey Krug as three key Blues who are out for the foreseeable future.
UP NEXT
Toronto hosts the Seattle Kraken on Thursday and the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday as part of a three-game homestand. The Maple Leafs have 10 of their 14 games in January at Scotiabank Arena.
“It is a good opportunity for us to get some real traction here on home ice,” said Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe. “You never want to get complacent of comfortable within that.”
The Blues will host the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 3, 2023.
