TORONTO – Erik Kallgren made 35 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Thursday for the second straight victory of the Rookie Goaltender.
Mitch Marner, Ilya Mikheyev and Ondrej Kase scored for Toronto (39-17-5), which was again minus NHL goal leader Auston Matthews as he served the second of a two-game suspension.
Ethan Bear and Vincent Trocheck answered for Carolina (41-14-5). Frederik Andersen stopped 18 shots.
Called up by the Minors last week with Leafs number 1 netminder Jack Campbell due to a rib injury, Kallgren got his second NHL start in place of scuffling Petr Mrazek after closing out the Dallas Stars 4-0 on Tuesday.
All that the 25-year-old Swede has done in his short time at work is constantly a Toronto force, which has been a big issue since January 1 when the Leafs made their second consecutive defensive effort.
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Kallgren’s only goal against in his three appearances before Bear scored in Thursday’s third period was Mrazek’s relief in the Toronto 5-4 overtime loss to the Arizona Coyotes on March 10 with the teams taking 3 on 3 games.
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Toronto, which lost 4-1 on the road to Carolina in October before hitting the Hurricanes 4-3 at home last month, was under intense pressure early Tuesday as the visitors recorded 11 of the game’s first 12 shots, but the Kallgren was there once again. at each turn, including a nice stop from Trocheck on a 2-on-1.
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The Leafs opened the scoring against the edge of the game with 4:12 left in the period when Mikheyev took a pass from Justin Holl and hit a slender Andersen on the short side with a backhand for his 12th goal of the season. .
Kallgren, who made 35 saves on Tuesday to become the fourth goalie in franchise history to record a shutout in his first NHL start, made a great pad stop on Brady Skjei early in the second.
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Toronto then made it 2-0 as John Tavares tipped Timothy Liljegren’s stretch pass over Carolina defender Jaccob Slavin’s piece on the Spring Marner, and he made no mistake past Andersen’s blocker for the 24th.
Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal beat Kallgren, but not his post, later in the period on a great chance out of the slot.
Andersen, who played five seasons with the Leafs before moving to Carolina via free agency in July, came in with an NHL-best 2.06 goals against average and sat in second place in the league with 30 wins.
He had to be sharp to keep his team just two when he fired his blocker to reject Mikheyev on a beautiful Toronto pass game later in the second.
Bear completed Kallgren’s regulatory shutout streak at 132 minutes 12 seconds on a shot through the five-hole for his fourth at 4:09 from the third to make it 2-1.
But Kase restored Toronto’s two-goal lead with his third goal in as many games at 7:20 as he took a sweet plate pass from William Nylander to bury his 14th.
Carolina pulled Andersen and tried to come back in striking distance, but Kallgren’s play coupled with some desperate defense kept her at bay before Trocheck scored a consolation goal, his 16th, with 3.6 seconds on the left.
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The Leafs wore their green and white Toronto St. Pats jerseys – a corner for the franchise moniker from 1919 to 1927 – at St.
Notes: Matthews is eligible to return to the Toronto lineup Saturday in Nashville. … The hurricanes are in Washington on Friday. … Leafs band Wayne Simmonds was a healthy shock for the second straight game.
This report from the Canadian press was first published on March 17, 2022.
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