Maple Leafs’ stars align to beat Dallas in wild finish

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If the Maple Leafs’ bottom-six forwards keep bottoming out on offence, they will need a lot of strong support role efforts for the Core Fore scorers.

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Such as an improbable 5-4 win over Dallas on Wednesday, where slumping Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi came up empty again, but the big ticket duo and fourth line plumbers did their part after the big names pumped in five, three on the power play.

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Against a Stars team that rolls all lines all the time as opposed to Toronto getting few goals from its third unit and limiting its fourth’s ice time, the Leafs got forechecking, penalty killing, and also goaltending, for a badly needed home decision.

Tyler Bertuzzi, with one goal in his past 29 games, and Max Domi, 1-for-19, missed chances from tight in that could have allowed coach Sheldon Keefe and the rest of the bench to breath easier before requiring a third-period rally. But the two aforementioned forwards matched Dallas’s intensity 5-on-5. And with a patchwork fourth line that usually gets limited ice time, Keefe had the head-to-head with the Stars’ more proven energy combo.

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“Those guys contributed a lot,” Keefe said of centre Pontus Holmberg and wingers Ryan Reaves and Bobby McMann. “That’s a deep team and no easy shifts against (Evgenii Dadonov, Radek Faksa and GTA insert Ty Dellandrea). I put them in some challenging spots, we trusted them and they gave a breather for the rest of the guys.”

That helped Mitch Marner and William Nylander notch even-strength goals 20 seconds apart after Dadonov scored on a penalty shot to tie the game 3-3 in the third period and silence Scotiabank Arena.

“We just wanted to get back to work, get back in their half (of the ice),” Marner said of the quick response. “We talk about it all the time. When other teams score against us, our bench does a good job of staying in the moment.”

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And when the power play shows up, so does Toronto in the win column. Goals by Marner, John Tavares and then Tavares setting up Auston Matthews’ league-leading 41st, avenged a late loss to the New York Islanders on Monday when the stretch run to playoffs began.

That’s just the second time this season that the Leafs special teams have rung up that many in a game. The Stars could not run away with the game as they threatened to after the first period.

In the department of things science can’t explain, the Leafs have a record of 9-2 in the past 11 meetings with the perennial Stanley Cup contender from Texas.

“We needed to up our intensity, our urgency and the way we managed the puck,” Keefe said of the Leafs’ play in the final 40 minutes, though Wyatt Johnston’s 6-on-5 goal with 1:25 to go made it a nail-biter.

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All first-liners, including Matthew Knies, plus Nylander, generated short-handed scoring breakaways, two from the same too-many-men minor.

“Guys had big blocks out there and good clears,” Matthews said. “When you stall their power play momentum it brings it over to your side.”

With a three-point night, Tavares passed Steve Larmer and Pat LaFontaine in career NHL points, getting to 94th in league history with 1,014.

Though Dallas played the night before in Buffalo, it was the Leafs under siege from the game’s opening faceoff. Toronto managed to strike first on a Nylander extra-man goal, his first on the power play since the $92 million US contract extension and first since Dec. 29.

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Jamie Benn had the first of the night for Dallas, while teammate Jason Robertson out-pointed brother Nick on the Leafs, 1-0.

Holmberg, subbing for the injured David Kampf, won an own-zone draw and with help, moved play up ice and drew the penalty leading to the Matthews goal.

Ilya Samsonov, whose No. 35 sweater has been put back in a place of prominence in the SBA souvenir store as his turnaround continues, held the Leafs in at critical junctures amid his 27 saves.

For Keefe, it was a milestone of sorts, career win 192 to pass his assistant, Guy Boucher, on the NHL career coaching wins list in 107 fewer games.

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