» Maple Leafs get top marks for perseverance in beating Kings

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Character wins can come at any time during a season.

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For the Maple Leafs, there has not been a bigger one in 2024-25 than their 3-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.

Our takeaways from the win, which vaulted the Leafs into first place in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of both the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning:

COMEBACK KINGS

Consider the Kings’ home record — heading into the game, they lost just three times in regulation in 33 previous matches in their own building. And they had lost just seven times overall at home.

The Leafs, though, know a thing or two about resilience.

Down 1-0 going into the third, the Leafs rallied to win for the eighth time this season when trailing after two periods. Those eight wins in that situation are tied with Vegas for the most in the National Hockey League.

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“We stayed patient,” captain Auston Matthews told media in Los Angeles. “We continued to push, continued to work and found a way to tie the game up and then special teams played a pretty big part.

“(Team defence) is a full five plus the goalie. It takes everybody out there, everybody has to be on the same page. That was the key to the third period.”

After they were stymied time and time again at five-on-five through 40 minutes, the Leafs went to work on special teams in third.

Matthews didn’t get frustrated after dealing with the checking of the Kings’ Phillip Danault all night. Matthews scored his second career shorthanded goal in the NHL at 55 seconds, beating goalie Darcy Kuemper with a low shot right after Kuemper stopped him on a breakaway.

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Matthews also had an assist and recorded eight of the Leafs’ 26 shots on goal. He won 14 of his 20 faceoffs.

If you look to your captain to lead by example, Matthews did that on Saturday night.

He had some help.

TAVARES TERRIFIC

John Tavares has had a month he won’t forget. With two goals, he has 13 in March — the most he has had in any month in the NHL —and can add to that total when the Leafs visit the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday to end their three-game trip through California.

For the second time in his NHL career, Tavares has scored in five consecutive games. He also did it Feb. 7-16, 2013, when he was with the New York Islanders.

Tavares — who was in the penalty box when Matthews scored — got the deciding goal on a Leafs power play at 12:04 of the third when he pumped a Matthews rebound past Kuemper. Tavares’ eighth game-winning goal of the season tied him with William Nylander for the Leafs lead.

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And it represented another notch for what has been the best power play in the NHL since Jan. 15. The Leafs went into the game with a success rate of 38.2% since mid-January, a clip they would love to maintain through their final nine games and into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Tavares ensured the Leafs’ 21st road win when he scored into an empty Kings net with one minute 25 seconds remaining.

Tavares has 35 goals, the fifth-most he has had in his 16 NHL seasons. At the age of 34, Tavares could wind up with his second-best goal-scoring season in the NHL. His high is 47, done in 2018-19 with the Leafs, but his next-highest total is 38 goals, done in 2014-15 with the Islanders. He has lots of time to pass 38, never mind hit 40.

“He has been great for us all year, but especially as of late, since the 4 Nations, (he has) a little extra pop in his step,” Matthews said. “He’s a big-time player.”

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STOLARZ SOLIDIFYING

Perhaps the debate regarding who should be the Leafs’ starting goalie when the playoffs start won’t actually go down to the last regular-season game on April 17 at home against the Detroit Red Wings.

In winning his third start in a row, Anthony Stolarz put on a stellar performance, making 35 saves.

We could point to a half-dozen stops he made on Saturday, but the one that stands out came on Kings captain Anze Kopitar on the first shift of the period.

Had Stolarz not stopped Kopitar at point-blank range, Los Angeles would have taken a 2-0 lead. Instead, Matthews scored less than a minute later to tie the game and send the Leafs into full rally mode.

The night for Stolarz came 48 hours after Joseph Woll was not good in a 6-5 shootout loss against the San Jose Sharks.

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There’s no reason to start Stolarz in Anaheim on Sunday. It would make little sense to put more work on his shoulders when Woll should be fresh and looking to rebound from what happened in San Jose.

We know this: Whatever happens on Sunday, Stolarz absolutely should be in net in the Leafs’ game that follows, on Wednesday night at home against his former team, the Panthers.

Stolarz had a great start to the season and is rounding back into form as it concludes. He’s back to having the inside track to start Game 1 of the playoffs.

GUTTING THROUGH

As we mentioned, Matthews persevered as Danault kept a close eye on him. Ditto for Tavares, who had Kopitar as his matchup for much of the game.

Commend the Leafs as whole, though, for sloughing off the Kings’ tightness at five-on-five.

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It was playoff-type game in many regards. The Kings gave the Leafs no space through the neutral zone, and as a result, Toronto didn’t get a ton on Kuemper. Shots on goal at five-on-five were 29-15 for Los Angeles.

The Leafs’ effort defensively, though, was evident. Determination was crucial. And they didn’t go away. It’s the approach they’re going to need in late April and beyond.

“There was no panic in the game,” Tavares said. “You can feel like there is not a whole lot going on, especially you get to the halfway point and we generated some good looks, but we hadn’t sustained some pressure.

“Just staying with it and not getting frustrated or discouraged. I liked the attitude in the room in between periods. I thought Papi (Matthews) was tremendous, made some big plays, and a huge goal to tie it up.”

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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