Recap: Perry Has Four-Assist Night, But Ducks Lose, 7-4, to Leafs

In a wild and crazy game that featured 11 goals and 84 shots combined, the Ducks came up short in a 7-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre on Monday.

Ten of the game's 11 goals were scored in the second and third periods, but unfortunately for Anaheim, it marked the club's third consecutive loss (0-2-1) on its five-game road trip, which concludes tomorrow night in Buffalo.
Corey Perry tied a career high with four assists in the game, while Rickard Rakell finished with two goals and three points. Ryan Getzlaf and Ondrej Kase also scored for the Ducks, who fell to 25-19-10 (60 points). Ryan Miller made 33 saves in the loss.
Auston Matthews and William Nylander each had multi-goal games for the Maple Leafs, who improved to 31-19-5 (67 points). Frederik Andersen made 25 saves on 28 shots, but left the game late in the second period after taking a skate to the helmet. Curtis McElhinney went the rest of the way making 15 saves on 16 shots.
After failing to get on the scoresheet in Toronto's loss two nights ago, Matthews didn't waste any time making an impact in this one. After gathering the puck in the neutral zone, he used a burst of speed to get around Kevin Bieksa and tucked in a wraparound for his team-leading 24th goal of the season at the 6:32 mark of the opening frame.
Anaheim's top line evened the score with a strong shift to begin the second period. With Rakell, Getzlaf and Perry doing work down low, the puck eventually made its way to Rakell, who was stationed at the goal line to Andersen's right. The shifty Swede sent a pass into the slot where Getzlaf used his strength to muscle home his seventh goal of the season just 43 seconds into the period. Rakell extended his assist/point streak to four games (six points, 1g/5a), tying his career high for assists in consecutive games, set once before (Nov. 3-9, 2017).

Toronto regained the lead just minutes later when Nylander and the Leafs capitalized on a turnover in the offensive zone. Nylander was able to walk in all alone on Miller and used a quick shot to beat Miller for his 11th goal and 39th point of the season.
The Rakell-Getzlaf-Perry trio connected again at the 8:23 mark of the second period when Rakell made an impressive move to sneak the puck past Andersen off a feed from Perry. It marked Rakell's third consecutive 20-goal season and gave him seven points over his last four games.

The Ducks tacked on another goal less than three minutes later when Kase buried a rebound on the power play to put them up, 3-2. Kase finished off Perry's rebound chance, which laid in front of an outstretched Andersen. The assist gave Perry three points in the game, while the goal, Kase's 13th, placed him in sole possession of second place on the team in that category.

Toronto answered with a power-play goal off a 4-on-2 rush with Mitch Marner trailing the play. After he pulled it into his wheelhouse, he delayed until he found an open lane to beat Miller over the shoulder.
A defection in the high slot from Leo Komarov gave the Leafs a 4-3 lead with 2:20 remaining in the second period. The veteran forward was able to find space to deflect Jake Gardiner's innocent-looking wrist shot from the left point.
After killing off a penalty to begin the third period, the Ducks answered with Rakell's second goal of the game - a sharp-angle shot that somehow snuck between the nearside post and McElhinney's body at the 2:07 mark of the third period. With an assist, Perry tied a career high for assists in a game (4), set Oct. 31, 2008 vs. Vancouver.

The fire-wagon hockey continued 1:21 later when Nylander scored his second goal of the game on yet another breakaway. Nylander snuck behind Francois Beauchemin and Brandon Montour and cruised in to beat Miller high glove.
Matthews put the Leafs up 6-4 with his second goal of the night with only 3:11 remaining in regulation, and Zach Hyman scored into an empty-net goal to put the game out of reach with 54 seconds left on the clock.
Anaheim will look to salvage its road trip tomorrow night in Buffalo.