Toronto Maple Leafs forward Tyler Bertuzzi, left, reaches for the puck as forward William Nylander and Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin battle in Toronto on Feb. 7.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
It is certain that the Maple Leafs did not anticipate being in this position on Wednesday: struggling to stay out of fifth place in the Atlantic Division; looking more ordinary than like a Stanley Cup contender; scuffling along with four victories in their preceding 10 outings.
Theirs is an interesting dilemma. The big stars have played like big stars but after that it is pretty much crickets. Auston Matthews had scored 40 times yet they entered a game against Dallas with just two more triumphs than defeats.
The Stars are often overlooked yet always have a formidable team – but not one that Toronto has much difficulty with. Before this meeting at Scotiabank Arena, the Maple Leafs had beaten them on 17 of the previous 21 occasions.
A friendly opponent in a thumping home rink, just the tonic to soothe what ails ye. And so it went.
William Nylander had an assist and scored twice, including the game-winner with 8:03 left in the third period, John Tavares had a goal and two assists, Matthews got his NHL leading 41st goal and Mitch Marner added another in a 5-4 come-from-behind win.
Toronto scored twice in 20 seconds in the third to seal the victory but there were some anxious moments nonetheless. Wyatt Johnston scored with 1:25 remaining with his goalie pulled to bring Dallas to within 5-4.
Earlier, the Leafs gave up the tying goal to make it 3-3 when Evgeni Dadonov got behind their defence, got pulled down and scored on a penalty shot with 8:55 to go.
The Maple Leafs scored three times in three attempts on the power play, outhit Dallas and blocked more shots in a game that looked to be getting away from them in the first period.
“I didn’t mind our first eight or nine minutes but then I though the game shifted from there,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “They played real hard and we didn’t play well.
“We needed to up our intensity and we played a lot harder in the second and third.”
Toronto took a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Nylander with 13:26 remaining in the first period. Morgan Rielly set up Nylander’s long slap shot and 24th goal of the season.
Dallas evened it up at 1-1 with a power-play goal of its own with Tyler Bertuzzi in the penalty box for high sticking. It took Jamie Benn and the Stars only eight seconds to net it, with Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson collecting the assists with 5:08 to go before the first intermission.
Pavelski, 39, had become only the seventh American-born player in NHL history to reach 1,300 games in a victory in Buffalo on Tuesday. Robertson is the older brother of Maple Leafs forward Nicholas Robertson. The Stars then went ahead with 2:37 left in the first when Dadonov beat Ilya Samsonov.
Those two Dallas goals came on consecutive shots. Despite getting the first goal the Maple Leafs looked listless and were outshot 10-4.
They picked up the pace big time after that.
Tavares tied it up at 2-2 on a power-play five seconds after Tyler Seguin was caught hooking. It was the Toronto captain’s 15th goal with Nylander registering the assist with 7:23 to go in the second stanza.
Matthews got his goal with 7:23 left in the second on another power play, squeezing the puck past Dallas goalie Scott Wedgewood. He is the backup to all-star Jake Oettinger who had 47 saves a night earlier versus the Sabres.
Dadonov was successful on his penalty shot a little more than midway through the third, but then Marner and Nylander scored 20 seconds apart to make it 5-3.
Johnston then got Dallas to within 5-4 in the waning minutes.
There was some bad with the good; terrible give-aways early on; another penalty for having too many men on the ice; the defensive lapse that allowed Dadonov to get free, a silly penalty on Pontus Holmberg, no goals beyond the usual suspects.
At this point Tyler Bertuzzi has gone 16 games without scoring and has just one goal in the last 29 outings. Max Domi has just four goals overall and one in the past 21 games. Matthew Knies, who had a promising start to his rookie season, has gone 17 games without burying a puck.
“We need to get more from our bottom guys,” Keefe said earlier in the day. “If you look at our season as a whole we have been inconsistent.
“That is the difference between the top teams and everybody else in the league. Consistency is what we are seeking.”
It didn’t happen particularly on this night yet Toronto escaped and improved to 26-15-8 with a game on Saturday in Ottawa against the Senators. The win, coupled with a loss by Tampa Bay in New York to the Rangers, allowed the Maple Leafs to jump over the Lightning and into third place.
One last thing. Ryan Reaves had his best game with the club, stirring things up the way he was expected to.