Mar 3, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs ahead Matthew Knies (23) will get congratulated after a objective in opposition to the San Jose Sharks in the course of the second interval at Scotiabank Enviornment. Obligatory Credit score: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Photographs After making a one-day pit cease at house for a shootout loss to San Jose, the Toronto Maple Leafs head west for an additional three-game street journey that begins Wednesday night time in opposition to the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights in Las Vegas.
It will be the third recreation in a four-day stretch for Toronto that started with a 6-5 time beyond regulation win Sunday at Pittsburgh. That capped a four-game street journey that additionally included visits to Chicago, Boston and the New York Rangers.
Toronto has received 4 in a row on the street and 7 of its final eight. The Maple Leafs had an total five-game successful streak snapped by the lowly Sharks, who rallied to attain twice within the third interval to tie it after which claimed a 3-2 win on a rating by Fabian Zetterlund within the shootout’s fourth spherical.
It was the second half of a road-home back-to-back for Toronto, which appeared to expire of gasoline within the closing interval and failed to attain on a 4-on-3 energy play in time beyond regulation.
“Clearly, it isn’t perfect however we’re not going to make excuses for that type of stuff,” mentioned ahead Matthew Knies, who scored a power-play objective within the second interval to place Toronto up 2-0. “We simply acquired to be higher and play a full 60 minutes. We did not do an excellent job of that immediately.”
“Properly, it is disappointing,” Toronto coach Craig Berube mentioned of blowing the late lead in opposition to a San Jose workforce with the worst file within the league. “Any loss is disappointing. Two-nothing lead. We’re in a great spot to shut it out, and we did not do the job. After which we get an opportunity in OT with the ability play and could not get it achieved.”
Knies had a easy resolution for Toronto’s fast turnaround into one other lengthy street journey that additionally contains stops in Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday and in Salt Lake Metropolis to face the Utah Hockey Membership on Monday.
“Simply clear the suitcase and put it proper again in,” Knies mentioned. “I assume it has been 10 hours at house, actually. It is superb. We had an excellent street journey, so we’re simply going to copy that and maintain tallying on the wins there.”
Toronto, which is 18-9-2 on the street, performs a Vegas workforce with the second-best house file within the league at 22-6-3. The Golden Knights are coming off Sunday’s spectacular 2-0 victory over the visiting New Jersey Devils.
Adin Hill made 25 saves for his third shutout of the season and Mark Stone and Noah Hanifin every scored power-play objectives within the third interval to steer Vegas, which has received 5 of its final six video games.
“I assumed defensively we had been actually dialed in,” Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy mentioned.
That hadn’t been the case the earlier two video games when Vegas gave up 4 third-period objectives in a 5-2 loss at Los Angeles, then yielded 4 objectives over the ultimate two intervals in a wild 7-5 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.
This would be the second of two regular-season conferences. The Maple Leafs, minus injured captain Auston Matthews, received the primary one 3-0 on Nov. 20 in Toronto. Joseph Woll posted 31 saves and William Nylander contributed a objective and an help. Knies left that contest within the second interval after taking an open-ice hit from defenseman Zach Whitecloud.
–Discipline Stage Media
