Knights battle back to force OT, lose to Maple Leafs 4-3 in shootout

TORONTO — The way things were looking early, the Golden Knights weren’t thinking about one point, let alone two. They were worried about being run out of Air Canada Centre.

That’s how much they struggled in the first period Monday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. But they climbed back from a 3-1 first-period deficit to pull even at 3 thanks to Deryk Engelland’s goal with 6:16 gone in the third period. And with one point secured as the game went to overtime, the Knights nearly got the second point with four great chances to pick up the win.

Ultimately, they couldn’t close it out. The game went to a shootout, the first in the franchise’s brief history, and Mitch Marner’s first-round goal for the Maple Leafs stood up for a 4-3 win in front of 19,398.

“Given how we started, getting a point is pretty good,” said Engelland, who made a heads-up play when he saw Toronto in the midst of a line change and took a feed from Shea Theodore, skated in uncontested and beat Frederik Andersen over his right shoulder with a wrist shot. “We tightened things up in the second period and we played better and it got us back in the game.”

Coach Gerard Gallant isn’t complaining.

“We competed and battled hard,” Gallant said. “We didn’t play great tonight. We didn’t have the quickness we usually have. But we found a way and we got a big point.”

The Knights had trailed 1-0, 2-1 and 3-1 against a Leafs team which has been struggling, having lost five of its past six. But Reilly Smith scored with 1:10 left in the second period to pull the Knights within 3-2 as Auston Matthews was in the penalty box for tripping and the complexion of the game quickly changed.

Matthews, who had soreness in his legs and only participated for a few minutes in the morning skate before being a game-time decision to play, was his usual dangerous self. He had an assist on James van Riemsdyk’s goal which made it 2-1 after James Neal had tied it for the Knights with his team-leading eighth goal of the year by redirecting Erik Haula’s shot off his right skate.

Matthews had a great chance to win it early in overtime as he was all alone in front of Maxime Lagace, the Knights’ rookie goaltender. But Lagace, who had 22 saves, managed to get a piece of it.

Defenseman Nate Schmidt, who along with defense partner Luca Sbisa had spent most of the night trying to contain Matthews, said the OT was a wild five-minute ride.

“It was pretty crazy out there,” said Schmidt, who played a team-high 27 minutes, 11 seconds Monday. “Our plan in three-on-three is you play your man one-on-one in your end and if you can beat him at the other end when you have the puck, you go.”

Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock was impressed with the Knights’ grit.

“They’ve got some good players and they’re a real good team,” Babcock said. “They’re organized, they’re having fun, they’re playing with house money and they’re enjoying themselves.

“For us, it’s a win and now we can breathe and go out and play.”

The Knights are 1-3-1 on the six-game road trip which ends Tuesday in Montreal against the Canadiens at the Bell Centre. They won’t finish the trip .500 but getting something when it looked like they would leave Toronto empty-handed was encouraging.

“It was a tough first period but we did a good job coming back,” said Smith, whose second-period goal was his fifth of the season. “You always want that extra point. But it’s good to pick up a point after you’re down a couple of goals in the first period.”

Three takeaways

1. Matthews set tone. We all know Toronto center Auston Matthews is an elite player. But he showed why he’s so good early on. First, he drew a slashing penalty from Brendan Leipsic which led to the first of Nazem Kadri’s two goals. Then Matthews made a great spin move to elude Luca Sbisa that led to James van Riemsdyk’s goal to make it 2-1. Matthews was suffering leg soreness and was a game-time decision. But he looked fine once the game started. He also looked human as he took a late second-period tripping penalty which led to Reilly Smith’s goal that made it 3-2.

2. The Leafs are fast in O-zone. Toronto pressed the Knights’ defensemen all game and it made life tough for goalie Maxime Lagace. He was facing some point-blank shots and he didn’t have much of a chance on most of the goals generated by the Maple Leafs’ high-octane attack.

3. Good second period. Remember early in the season when the Knights dominated the scond period? They did so again Monday, scoring the only goal, keeping the Maple Leafs in check and having just one giveaway in the middle 20 minutes. It allowed them to get back in the game.

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Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.