Many Leafs break slumps in huge pre-break series sweep of Jets

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Coach Sheldon Keefe emptied his once crowded dog house just in time for their all-star game vacation.

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In an improbable home-and-home sweep of the Winnipeg Jets that began with a 32-save Ilya Samsonov shutout, John Tavares and Ryan Reaves scored as part of Saturday’s 4-2 road win, while the plummeting power play struck twice.

Auston Matthews won it with his 40^th goal and 600^th NHL point, the fastest Leaf to both milestones, in 46 and 527 games, respectively.

“A good way to end this segment heading out on the break,” Matthews said. “Tonight wasn’t necessarily our best game as a line (with Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies), but we stayed patient, got the opportunity on the power play and made the most of it.

“Taking care of our own end is most important (the Leafs have allowed four goals the past three games, all wins).”

His winner was on a 5-on-3 after Taveras’s backhand tip of Morgan Rielly’s shot, Taveras’s  first point of any kind in nine contests.

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The captain had used the word “belief” a lot when discussing his and the team’s adversity this month, himself just two goals since Christmas, which contributed to the club’s 1-for-20 man advantage troubles.

“When it’s not to our standard I think we understand and know we have to be accountable,” Tavares told Sportsnet. “Especially we (the Core Four forwards) are counted on a lot in our group. We did a good job staying with it. Nice to get an important one tonight.”

Reaves scored after more than a month of press box purgatory and deep concern about his NHL future.

“Oh man, that felt really good; it’s a while just being on the sheet,” he said. “I do my best work in front of the net and I’ve been working on my tips the last couple of months (in long solo practices).”

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In his hometown before family and friends, his forecheck led to a Jets’ turnover and his perfect tip of Noah Gregor’s shot. To double the scoring shock, defenceman Simon Benoit had his first in more than a calendar year, albeit into an empty net.

This match had all the physicality and tension of Wednesday in Toronto, minus all the Leaf giveaways. Samsonov posted another strong outing, 24 saves after an early partial screen goal by Dylan Samberg and one by Mason Appleton with 12 seconds to go.

This time the penalty parade was led by the Leafs who killed off the first three after getting a huge edge in calls back at Scotiabank Arena.

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Tyler Bertuzzi appeared to put Toronto up two right after Reaves. But the officials waved it off immediately for interference on William Nylander, who was trying to avoid bumping Connor Hellebuyck on the lip of the crease. Nylander was also slammed into Hellebuyck for good measure by Jets’ Dylan DeMelo.

That latter evidence was good reason for Keefe to challenge, but his video coaching crew was trumped for the first time this season when the NHL situation room sided with the call on the ice. Knowing the Jets power play has been awful the past 10 games, Keefe took the risk of the minor penalty, eventually killing four on the evening.

Matthews reached a nice round 40 as host of his fellow all-stars in Toronto next week for the skills competition and game. While Nylander tailed off in scoring near the break, he excelled on the penalty kill Wednesday with Calle Jarnkrok injured.

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“I loved how our guys handled these games against this team,” Keefe said of the Jets being at the top of the Central Division this week.

The Leafs reach the break at 25-14-8, in the uncustomary position of a wildcard playoff seed, but with games in hand on everyone ahead and right behind them.

Keefe had a few lineup changes, starting up front the anticipated switch to Reaves for Jarnkrok (broken knuckle) and Bertuzzi, back after attending the birth of his son, for the injured Bobby McMann. Veteran defenceman Mark Giordano bumped Conor Timmins after the latter got in a couple of games, Giordano with a couple of key short-handed shot blocks.

After Winnipeg defenceman Josh Morrissey missed the final two periods on Wednesday after a painful block, Brenden Dillon went out early in this game. Forward Gabe Vilardi returned from injury, though Mark Scheifele remains out.

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