TORONTO — Down two goals and their best player through 40 minutes, the Toronto Maple Leafs talked in the second intermission about getting back to what has made them successful early on this season.
That speed and puck pursuit eventually proved to be the difference against a weary opponent Saturday.
Kasperi Kapanen scored the winner with 2:45 left in regulation after Jake Gardiner tied the game 26 seconds earlier as the Leafs overcame the loss of star centre Auston Matthews and a 2-0 deficit in the third period to beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2.
"We hadn’t been playing the game we wanted to," said winger Mitch Marner, who set up Toronto’s first two goals. "We knew we needed to get pucks in, we needed to be quicker on our feet.
"That’s when we’re at our best."
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Nazem Kadri had the other goal for Toronto (8-3-0), which got 22 stops from Frederik Andersen as the Leafs snapped a three-game losing streak at home.
Matthews left the game early in the second with a shoulder injury and did not return. Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said the 21-year-old is set be re-evaluated on Monday and will not play that night against the Calgary Flames.
"It’s tough," Marner added. "He’s a big part of this team, everyone knows that.
"Hopefully we get him back soon."
Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele replied for Winnipeg (7-4-1). Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves.
Toronto beat the Jets 4-2 on Wednesday at Bell MTS Place to snap a two-game slide. Winnipeg was playing its third game in four nights following Friday’s 2-1 road victory over the Detroit Red Wings.
The Jets, who were also playing for the eighth time in two weeks, left immediately after the loss for Finland, where they will battle the Florida Panthers in Helsinki on Thursday and Friday.
"It got away from us in the third," Winnipeg defenceman Jacob Trouba said. "They were on us in the defensive zone, they caused the turnovers."
Trailing 2-0 through two periods, Kadri got Toronto within one at 6:33 of the third off a nice feed from Marner for his second goal of the season and second in as many games after going nine straight without one to open the schedule.
"We never feel like we’re down and out," said Kadri, who was reunited with Marner and Patrick Marleau when Matthews went down. "We scored and that got the ball rolling."
Hellebuyck made a couple of nice stops to keep his team ahead, but could do nothing on the equalizer as Gardiner, who scored his first the season in the 500th game of his career, jumped into the slot and beat the Jets netminder upstairs with 3:11 left.
"If you’re down a goal you’re cheating a little bit harder for offence," said Gardiner, whose parents were in the building. "The puck just squirted out and I got in on that."
Kapanen then roofed the winner from in tight — his sixth of the campaign — on the very next shift.
"We started pushing," Kapanen said. "(Zach Hyman) and John (Tavares), they were doing some good work behind the net and it just popped out to me.
"Lucky enough I was able to put it in."
The Jets led 1-0 after the first and doubled their lead at the 11-minute mark of the second when Kadri gave the puck away to Scheifele at the offensive blue-line. The Jets centre raced the other way and beat Andersen for his sixth goal and fourth in as many games.
Toronto lost Matthews 90 seconds into the period after Trouba delivered a clean shoulder-to-shoulder check at the side of Winnipeg’s net.
"Trouba’s a heavy defenceman," Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. "When he hits, he hits hard."
Matthews, who came into the game tied for third in the NHL with 16 points despite failing to find the scoresheet in the last three games, immediately skated to the bench before heading straight to the locker-room.
He missed 20 games last season due to injury, including a month on the shelf because of a right shoulder problem.
If Matthews is out for any length of time, it would mean the Leafs will be minus two-thirds of the line of Marleau-Matthews-William Nylander, a restricted free agent still mired in a contract impasse, that Babcock envisioned following the addition of Tavares.
Connor opened the scoring at 9:38 of the first on a power play, beating Andersen for his second goal in as many nights off a feed from Blake Wheeler.
Toronto had a couple chances earlier in the period, including a Matthews shot with Hellebuyck at his mercy that hit the post on a Leafs’ man advantage.
"They were playing harder than us," Babcock said. "We had a decision to come out and play right in the third and when we did that we were fortunate, in the end, to get it to go our way.
"Any time you get a real good team twice in a week and you can get it done, it’s positive."
Notes: Marner now has 100 assists in his career. … Jets sniper Patrik Laine, who doesn’t have a point in his last five games, was demoted to the fourth line. … Winnipeg scored on the power play for the eighth straight game. … "The Hockey Song" by Stompin’ Tom Connors was immortalized in the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame before the game. The iconic sports anthem was performed during the second by country singer Tim Hicks. … Leafs winger Tyler Ennis also played his 500th game. Kadri will reach the milestone Monday against Calgary. … Toronto defenceman Travis Dermott (illness) missed a second consecutive game.
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