Andersen makes 16 saves in return from injury, Maple Leafs fall to Stars

TORONTO -- Frederik Andersen made 16 saves in his return to the Toronto Maple Leafs, a 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

The goalie missed four games with a neck injury sustained in a 5-3 loss to the Florida Panthers on Feb. 3.
"They came pretty hard on those turnovers, but that's their game," Andersen said. "I felt good. I would have liked to come up with a couple of saves early on in those two periods, especially, even in the third. Obviously, would have been nice to come out with a win. They have their structure and they stick to it through the game. Them getting a lead is huge for their style of play and they just try to shut 'er down and make the best of their opportunities. That's really what happened today."
WATCH: [All Stars vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Tyler Seguin ended a 17-game goal drought for the Stars (33-19-5), who have won three in a row. Denis Gurianov and Radek Faksa scored, and Ben Bishop made 27 saves.
Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman scored for the Maple Leafs (30-20-8).

Seguin made it 3-1 at 1:21 of the third period when he put in a rebound from Mattias Janmark's shot in the slot on the power play. The goal was Seguin's first since Dec. 28, 2019.
"It felt good, I didn't know when it was going to happen, but I just stuck with it," Seguin said. "I was at the point where I figured it was going to be something where it was off my head or off my butt but I'm happy one went in."
Jason Robertson, who played 12:18 in his NHL debut, had an assist on Seguin's goal for his first NHL point.
"It was unreal. I don't know, it just happened so quickly," the 20-year-old said. "It's something I can say now to my parents, I'm sure they're really happy right now. It's going to take some time to digest that."
Hyman made it 3-2 with 1:19 remaining in the third period when he put in a rebound on a shot from John Tavares at the top of the goal crease.
The Stars took a 1-0 lead at 1:20 of the first period when Gurianov got a loose puck after John Klingberg forced a turnover by Tavares at the top of the left face-off circle and skated into the slot, shooting between Andersen's pads.
Faksa made it 2-0 24 seconds into the second period when he shot between Andersen's pads on a breakaway.
Matthews made it 2-1 at 11:21 when he shot over Bishop's blocker from the right face-off dot on the power play. Matthews' 41st goal tied Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak for the NHL lead.
"What we learned is that when we're playing against a team we know is going to make it hard on us defensively, we can't spot them a lead, it's just going to make it even harder," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "That's a tough team to play against when you're chasing the game."
Stars forward Andrew Cogliano had an assist playing his 1,000th NHL game.
"We should be proud of how we played tonight," Cogliano said. "I think that's the recipe if we want to do anything this season, that's how we have to play. That's one of the best teams in the League offensively. I thought overall we did a pretty good job, Matthews still scores, but 5-on-5, I think we did a pretty good job against them."

They said it

"We kept saying he's doing a lot of things to help us win games. We're right there knocking on the door for first place and he's been a huge part of it regardless of what the point totals tell us. It's easy for us to say that because we see the good things he brings to the table every night, but everyone else just wants to look at the score sheet. There's a big weight off his shoulders and we're very happy for him. We got the two points and I know he'll be more excited about the two points than the goal." -- Stars coach Rick Bowness on Seguin ending a 17-game goal drought
"I thought we made it really challenging for him, he hasn't played [in a while] and the first shot of the game, we let their guy come from the top of the circles in. So we didn't help him in that regard. It was probably a tougher game for him but we have to do a better job for him in terms of getting goals and helping to get him some support." -- Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe on Andersen's return

Need to know

Maple Leafs forward Andreas Johnsson sustained a knee injury in the first period. Keefe said the injury would "not be short term." … Tavares extended his point streak to six games (five goals, four assists).

What's next

Stars:At the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CITY, SNE, TVAS, FS-SW, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs:At the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, SNO, SNW, SNP, NHL.TV)