The Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Dallas Stars in their second meeting of the season. Both teams came into this game hoping to bounce back from their last outing. The Maple Leafs had a terrible game against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night, losing 3-0. As for the Stars, they blew a lead to the Ottawa Senators and lost 3-2. The Stars were looking for their first win against the Maple Leafs since February 2020, which has spanned over seven games.
1st Period
The Maple Leafs started the game off buzzing, outshooting the Stars 6-0, including a vintage goal from Auston Matthews (15). They continued to apply the pressure on the very next shift, which led to a power play. The Maple Leafs’ power play has struggled over the last handful of games, and although they didn’t score they had good pressure and hit three posts, but the Stars were able to kill it off.
After killing off the man advantage, Dallas was able to swing the momentum, which led to a Logan Stankoven (5) goal. The rest of the first period featured a lot of back-and-forth action but ultimately ended 1-1.
2nd Period
The second period started the same way the first ended—fast-paced and physical. The Maple Leafs had 12 hits in the first period, which was more than they managed in the entire game against the Canucks. Both teams generated a good number of scoring chances, up until the nine-minute mark when Toronto took a questionable slashing penalty. On the power play, the Stars got a tip in front by Mavrik Bourque (4), which beat Joseph Woll to give them a 2-1 lead.
The game’s energy picked up again with seven minutes left when Matt Dumba levelled Max Domi. After the play was blown dead, the two exchanged words, but cooler heads prevailed. The period ended with the Stars up 2-1.
3rd Period
The Stars started the third period with a power play after a late second-period penalty from Oliver Ekman-Larsson. With 35 seconds remaining in the power play, Matt Duchene (17) found the back of the net to give his club a 3-1 lead. Shortly after, Stankoven (7) beat Woll again to extend the Stars’ lead to 4-1, with the goals coming just 1:48 apart.
The Stars controlled the majority of the third period. However, the Maple Leafs did get a power play chance at the 10-minute mark. To no one’s surprise, they were unable to capitalize at the most pivotal moment in the game.
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The Stars locked down the rest of the third with a lot of dump-and-chase hockey. The Maple Leafs tried a variety of line combinations, but nothing worked, and they were met with boos from the home crowd. Dallas held on and won the game 4-1 snapping a seven-game losing streak to Toronto.
