Jordie Benn scores as Maple Leafs beat Canucks 3-2
Nov 12, 2022, 5:19 AM | Updated: 9:25 pm
The Toronto Maple Leafs celebrate after left wing Pierre Engvall (47) scored against the Vancouver Canucks during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
(Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
TORONTO (AP) — Jordie Benn snapped a second-period tie in his first game with Toronto, sending the Maple Leafs to a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
Auston Matthews and Pierre Engvall also scored for Toronto, and Erik Kallgren made 28 saves. Kallgren stopped 19 shots in Friday night’s 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh.
“Really wanted to win,” Kallgren said. “Really wanted to come up with a good performance.”
Bo Horvat and J.T. Miller scored for Vancouver. Spencer Martin stopped 32 shots for the struggling Canucks, who blew their sixth multigoal lead of the season.
Vancouver led 2-0 after one, but Toronto got on the board when Matthews scored a power-play goal 1:46 into the second period. It was Matthews’ seventh of the season.
Engvall then tied it at 2 at 6:27 as Toronto kept up the pressure. Benn, who had been sidelined by a preseason groin injury and entered the lineup for an ailing T.J. Brodie, pinched down from his defensive position to score against his former team at 10:01.
“It doesn’t happen too often,” Benn said in the wake of his first goal since January. “Didn’t really know what to do. Thank God (Matthews) came and I was just like, ‘All right, here’s a hug.'”
Brock Boeser hit the post for Vancouver on a power play early in the third, and Kallgren snagged an Andrei Kuzmenko shot later in the period off a turnover.
Vancouver opened the scoring at 3:41 of the first when Horvat tipped in his 13th. Miller then put the visitors up 2-0 on a power play at 12:11 when he fired his eighth past a screened Kallgren.
“We played an unbelievable first,” Horvat said. “Every time we take 10 minutes off, it just kills us.”
WORTH NOTING
Kallgren made his eighth appearance of 2022-23 with Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov sidelined by injuries. Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said Murray is targeting Tuesday in Pittsburgh for his return.
UP NEXT
Canucks: At Boston on Sunday night for the fifth of a six-game trip.
Maple Leafs: At Pittsburgh on Tuesday night before returning for a three-game homestand.
___
AP NHL: www.apnews.com/hub/NHL and www.twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
