The Maple Leafs just pulled a classic Toronto move by winning a game they arguably needed to lose
Photo credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs come away from Minnesota with a 4-2 win to break their slide, but push them away further in the draft lottery.
Toronto managed to scrape out what looked to be an easy and controlled victory before starving off a Minnesota comeback.
After a scoreless first, the Leafs took over in the second, boosted by an early goal from Morgan Rielly followed up by two goals from recent call-up Benoit-Olivier Groulx for a 3-0 lead.
Not going away easily, Minnesota found two goals in 23 seconds from Vladimir Tarasenko with assists on both goals coming from Ryan Hartman and Mats Zuccarello to cut the Leafs lead to 3-2.
Matthew Knies finished off the Wild with an empty net goal to seal the win for the Leafs, 4-2 against Minnesota.
Starting netminder Anthony Stolarz made 36 saves on 38 shots for Toronto in the win, the Leafs outshooting Minnesota, 38-25.
Toronto has won two of their last three games since snapping their eight game losing streak Thursday against the Anaheim Ducks.
The win isn't entirely positive for Toronto, at least for the ones wanting a loss. The win pushes Toronto down from 7th to 8th in the draft lottery, a pick owed by Boston if outside the top-five.
This is actually a spot Toronto will want to stay out of. As there are two lotteries for first and second, the Leafs would only have a chance at winning those picks, but at seventh could manage to finish fifth in the lottery, and keep the picks.
The Leafs move to a 29-27-12 record on the season. Toronto's next game comes Tuesday against the New York Islanders.
Bo Groulx turns into Leafs unexpected tank stopper
Out of nowhere, Benoit-Olivier Groulx has forced the Toronto Maple Leafs out of tank mode, leading with two goals tonight against Minnesota.
Groulx has three goals in four games as a Leaf this season, having just a single goal in 65 previous NHL games in his career. It's a great story, even if he's hurting the Leafs lottery odds.
The 26-year-old had 27 goals and 50 points in 53 games this season for the Toronto Marlies in the American Hockey League, having translated his scoring to the NHL.
Besides Groulx, the Leafs first line showed a strong chemistry with one another, and created multiple scoring chances, showing what could be a consistent second line behind Auston Matthews next season.
A composed game from Anthony Stolarz, despite two goals from the Wild in quick sucession, Stolarz looked intense and reliable for Toronto in net, a much needed performance and perhaps Stolarz's best since returning from injury.
Winning meaningless games in March is putting the top-five pick in jeopardy
When Auston Matthews went down Thuesday after colliding with Radko Gudas, it seemed to be the final breaking point for the Leafs competitiveness, but they've only played harder and heavier since.
It comes at the cost of a first round pick the team is barely holding on, and at this point it may come down to a stroke of luck at the lottery.
A debate could emerge later on at the end of the season if Toronto indeed loses their first rounder if those last wins were worth losing the pick, knowing that the season was good as done.
To some, Toronto's win against Minnesota may be viewed as only a temporary high to the bigger picture, a team already broken.sabotaging their rebuild.
On the flip side, after eight losses in a row and the loss of the Captain, perhaps a win was necessary for the Leafs to get some positivity going, no matter how lost the season has become.
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| POLL | ||
MARS 15|788 ANSWERS The Maple Leafs just pulled a classic Toronto move by winning a game they arguably needed to lose Has Benoit-Olivier Groulx earned a place in the Leafs lineup for the rest of this season? | ||
| Yes | 728 | 92.4 % |
| No | 60 | 7.6 % |
| List of polls | ||