RALEIGH, N.C.—The Leafs’ post-game dressing room Sunday night was full of shared laughs and good vibes.
Jake Gardiner had a goal and three points. Connor Brown scored a pair of goals off precision passes from James van Riemsdyk. Auston Matthews scorred another milestone goal. And the Leafs won a must-win game for their playoff hopes.
And behind it all was backup goalie Curtis McElhinney.
“He was huge,” Brown said, after McElhinney stopped 37 shots to move the Leafs back up the Eastern Conference playoff ladder. “Any time you get stops like that to start the game, its huge . . . we got our legs under us after that and got the ball rolling.
McElhinney made point-blank stops on Elias Lindholm and Klas Dahlbeck early in a first period in which Toronto was outshot 15-6. And with their run of slow starts lately, there were some grateful teammates in the locker room.
“He’s been a great pickup for us,” Gardiner said about McElhinney, who is now 3-3 with the Leafs since being claimed off waivers from Columbus last month.
McElhinney’s role as a backup has been steadily increasing, with the Leafs needing him more and more down the stretch to allow for some down time for the heavily worked Frederik Andersen.
McElhinney did not get the desired result in a loss to Columbus — his former team — earlier last week, which left him disappoionted on an emotional night for him and his family.
The puck from Sunday’s shutout — his first as a Leaf, and fifth in his career — will go to his kids, he said.
“I like to spread them out,” McElhinney said, joking about the timing of his shutouts (the last which came in early 2014). “I thought we battled hard in front of the net, we got better as the game went along, but our guys did a good job in front of the net. We had trouble with that against Ottawa (in a loss on home ice Saturday night).
With McElhinney turning in a flawless performance, Toronto bagged two key points that vaulted them back into the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference. In fact, Toronto’s could have returned all the way back to third in the Atlantic, pending the outcome of a late game between Boston and San Jose on the late Sunday night.
“Number one is you are pushing the starting goalie, and he (McElhinney) does that with his workouts and his leadership . . . so that’s real positive . . . but these were two real important points for us tonight,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said.
“When things are going bad, you want to stop it as quick as you can. I thought (Leafs centre Tyler) Bozak was really competitive tonight, and (Morgan Rielly and Nakita Zaitsev) had bounce back-games . . . Jake (Gardiner) had three points, so it was a good game from our guys.”
Toronto responded to McElhinney’s first period with a new look in the second. Brown scored off a flip feed from van Riemsdyk at 1:07 of the second, while Matthews popped his 28th goal of the season at the 9:53 mark, to change the momentum and feel of this game.
“This is as much a must-win game for us as we’ve had all season,” Leafs centre Nazem Kadri said prior to the game.
Toronto’s win also marked a hard-to-come-by victory in the second game of back to back sets. The club has posted a 9-3-2 first game record, and is now 5-8-1 in the second.
The scene now shifts to Toronto for three big home games this week before a three game swing through the tough Pacific Division next week.
Matthews goal, his 28th on the season, put him back in a tie with Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine for the goal lead among NHL rookies. Laine picked up two assists in an important Winnipeg win Sunday, and sits three points ahead of Matthews in the overall rookie scoring race. The two rookies — first and second overall in the NHL draft last June — meet in Toronto Tuesday in what should be great hockey theatre.
Matthews’ goal was another thing of beauty from the 19-year-old phenom; he was hooked to the ice from behind but still managed to control his body and stick enough to tuck a backhander past Carolina goalie Cam Ward.
Matthews is one of just six teenagers with 28 goals since 2005: Sidney Crosby (twice), Steven Stamkos, Jeff Skinner, Jordan Staal, and Laine.
“It was a great play by Gards (Gardiner) to get me the puck,” Matthews said of his goal. “I had speed going to the net, I was able to make a play and stay on my feet.”
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