Matthews, Maple Leafs rally past Oilers for OT win

TORONTO --Auston Matthews scored 54 seconds into overtime, and the Toronto Maple Leafs came from behind to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

Matthews' shot from the left face-off dot deflected in off the skate of Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse at the top of the goal crease to cap a three-goal rally. It was Matthews' 22nd goal of the season, ending a five-game goal drought and putting him one ahead of Edmonton center Connor McDavid for the NHL lead.
"Definitely wasn't how we drew it up in overtime, but it was a fortunate bounce and we'll take that any day of the week," said Matthews, who also had an assist. "Just resiliency, though, we just stuck with it. The second period, we definitely didn't play our best hockey, but the third period, we clawed our way back and got a couple huge plays from John [Tavares], William [Nylander] and Alex [Galchenyuk]."
Nylander had a goal and an assist, and Jack Campbell made 17 saves for the Maple Leafs (22-10-2), who have won three in a row.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat it, I just didn't have it tonight, and I think that's what a really great team does is pick guys up," said Campbell, who has made three consecutive starts and won each. "They picked me up tonight and just led the way. I'm really proud of the boys. Just the whole game though, I didn't like my game one bit. We won the hockey game, so it makes it a little bit easier."
Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists, McDavid had two assists, and Tyson Barrie had a goal and an assist for the Oilers (21-13-1), who were playing their first game in a week. They had three games against the Montreal Canadiens postponed this week after two Montreal players entered the NHL COVID-19 protocol. Mike Smith made 27 saves.
Draisaitl said the week off wasn't a factor.
"I thought we actually played fairly solid for the most part," the forward said. "We led by two with seven minutes left or whatever it was, you have got to just shut it down, so it's on us."

The teams will conclude the two-game set here Monday when they play each other for the ninth and final time this season; Toronto is 6-1-1.
Draisaitl one-timed a pass from McDavid at 14:05 of the second period to put Edmonton up 2-1.
The Oilers extended the lead to 3-1 at 18:06 when Barrie scored in front after receiving Draisaitl's behind-the-back pass from behind the net.
Tavares, who had one goal in his prior seven games, cut it to 3-2 at 12:21 of the third period when he took a drop pass from Galchenyuk and scored from the slot.
"Nice to get one obviously, it's a big part of my game and this year it hasn't seemed to be as consistent as I'd like," said Tavares, who scored his 10th goal of the season.
Nylander tied it 3-3 at 16:38.
"We liked a lot about what we did in two of three periods, but two out of three isn't enough against a team like this," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "So we don't like [that] we gave them a point but obviously love how we fought our way back and got the win for Jack."

Pierre Engvall put Toronto ahead 1-0 at 4:14 of the second period when he took a pass from Matthews in the left circle and his shot from a sharp angle bounced off Smith's mask.
Edmonton tied it 1-1 at 6:47 when Nurse took a pass from McDavid and shot between Campbell's pads.
"Our energy was all right, but our execution was poor," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. "We battled the puck in the first period, and when you turn the puck over so much, you end up chasing it. The second period was a little better, but in the third period we turned it over in the neutral zone to give them some life and they pushed hard, got the tying one and got a break on the overtime one."
NOTES: Matthews has scored 10 points (seven goals, three assists) in 12 games against McDavid, with the Maple Leafs going 9-2-1. McDavid has scored 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) against Matthews, with the Oilers going 3-7-2. … McDavid leads the NHL in points (62) and assists (41). … Campbell is 6-0-0 in six starts this season.