Vegas @ Toronto preview
Scotiabank Arena
Last Meeting ( Feb 22, 2024 ) Toronto 7, Vegas 3
The visiting Vegas Golden Knights will be out to end their losing streak at three games and exact revenge by stopping the Toronto Maple Leafs' seven-game winning streak on Tuesday night.
The Maple Leafs are coming off a 4-0-0 road trip, which included a 7-3 win over Vegas on Thursday. Toronto completed the trip Saturday by defeating the Colorado Avalanche 4-3, led by Tyler Bertuzzi's hat trick.
Auston Matthews did not score Saturday but leads the league with 52 goals.
The Golden Knights blew a 2-0 lead and lost to the Ottawa Senators 4-3 in a shootout on Saturday to open a five-game trip.
Bertuzzi's first goal was No. 100 in his career and helped him celebrate his 29th birthday. His third career hat trick was his first multi-goal game of the season.
"Even before tonight I was feeling good," said Bertuzzi, who has 10 goals this season. "I thought I was making good plays and just playing decent hockey, and tonight felt good. That was a great road trip for us. Collecting eight points and being able to go home on that note is awesome."
Mitchell Marner had a goal and an assist, William Nylander had three assists and Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves as the Maple Leafs overcame a 2-0 deficit.
"Frankly, for most of the game, I thought we were pretty overwhelmed, but I thought we didn't break," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "There's just a lot of belief in what they're doing, belief in the group. Obviously, 'Sammy' in net battled real hard tonight and kept it out, gave the guys hope."
"I think we're playing very good hockey, all four lines, all three (defense) pairs, and we've had some massive saves from both our goalies," Marner said.
"Obviously, it's a lot more fun around the locker room when you're winning games. So, just got to make sure we keep doing the right things, keep building as a team in here, and when we're doing stuff right on that ice, it's showing."
Chandler Stephenson scored twice and Jonathan Marchessault netted his 30th goal and an assist for the Golden Knights, who lost for the fifth time in their past six games on Saturday.
The Golden Knights missed several chances to increase their lead, including a breakaway by Sheldon Rempal that was thwarted by Ottawa goaltender Anton Forsberg with 5:55 left in the second period.
"Second period had a chance to extend the lead over and over," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "The game was there in front of us to extend the lead and go into the third period in a good spot; it just didn't happen for us."
"I think it's something to build off for a long road trip here," Stephenson said. "Obviously, it would have been nice to secure that two-goal lead we had here, but credit to them for their push and for us to get one late to get a point out of it. Shootouts can go either way."
Vegas played better defensively Saturday than it did against Toronto.
"I thought we actually defended pretty well tonight compared to some of the games more recently. That part of the game I liked," Cassidy said. "At the end of the day, I felt we played well enough to get two (points)."
Toronto goaltender Joseph Woll (ankle) is close to returning and giving the team a solid trio with Samsonov and Martin Jones.
--Field Level Media