ANAHEIM — Coveting a strong finish over the final 10 games of the season to close the year with a better than .500 record, the Ducks fell shy of a third straight victory on Sunday, doing Eastern Conference teams no favors in a 3-2 loss to the Atlantic Division leading Toronto Maple Leafs at the Honda Center.
A 60-40 faceoff advantage, key contributions from Toronto’s fourth line and a stout performance from goaltender Joseph Woll ultimately overcame the Ducks’ energy and attacking intentions.
“They’re hunting to finish in first place in their division. We’re trying to have a winning record and stay relevant. It takes on an interesting complexion,” Ducks head coach Greg Cronin said. “It’s really good for our players to go through this, but the little details like faceoffs end up being a big part of games like this. That’s one of those things we’ll have to learn from.”
Early on, the Ducks (32-33-8, 72 points) outplayed Toronto (45-25-4, 94 points), yet they still fell behind heading to the first intermission when Max Domi scored with 36 seconds remaining in the period.
A neat bit of stick handling allowed Domi to skate around Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas in the slot, where the Canadian forward snapped a backhand above goalkeeper Lukas Dostal’s glove for his eighth goal.
Despite creating five more scoring chances in the first period, the Ducks were fortunate not to be down by two.
Within three minutes of the puck dropping, the Maple Leafs appeared to jump ahead on a Matthew Knies finish from Auston Matthews. But Cronin won a challenge because of a high stick along the boards from Mitch Marner that helped in the buildup.
Marner, though, made up for this indiscretion at 6:29 of the second period, capping a counterattack he created with a turnover at the visitor’s blueline by charging down the ice and beating Dostal unassisted for his 23rd goal and 91st point, the fifth most for a skater this season.
“This team has a lot of skill,” Marner said of the Ducks. “They play with five guys up the ice a lot and make it hard on you to read where to go. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game, especially on a back-to-back, and just stuck with it.”
A minute and a half after Marner scored, Leo Carlsson, fresh off the first four-point performance of his career, halved the deficit on his 20th goal, a wrist shot that zoomed through heavy traffic obstructing Woll’s view.
Woll denied 28 of the 30 shots against him. Meanwhile, Dostal stopped 20 shots as the Ducks failed to outlast an opponent playing back-to-back games and their third in four days.
“We felt that as the game went along, if we put it deep and were able to sustain pressure, they would lose a little energy,” Cronin said. “I thought the game plan was working but they got that goal at the end there.”
Fittingly, the two top teams in third-period comebacks (eight apiece) entered the final 20 minutes with the outcome in doubt.
Starting on the penalty kill, the Ducks escaped without conceding despite a terrific early chance for the Maple Leafs, which instead committed a tripping penalty that handed the home team a man advantage. The Leafs converted 40% of their power plays since Christmas, however, both of their man-advantage situations were snuffed out.
That strong penalty-killing effort allowed the Ducks to level the score on the power play at 2:16 of the third period, when Sam Colangelo jammed a shot off the post before putting away his own rebound for his seventh goal of the year.
The Ducks pushed for an NHL-best ninth third-period comeback, but Toronto, in a tight race with Florida and Tampa Bay for the top seed in the Atlantic Division, did not give away the game like the New York Rangers did at the Honda Center on Friday.
At 11:35, Toronto nailed down the result, giving them a three-point edge on their nearest challenger, the Lightning, when David Kampf fired the puck to the front of the net and his fellow fourth-liner, Steven Lorentz, redirected it past Dostal for his seventh goal of the year.
“I guess that’s the way the game works sometimes,” Lorentz said after converting his fourth game-winner of the season. “You might get one chance late, and fortunately, I’ve been able to put those ones in.”
The Ducks close a five-game homestand on Tuesday, against the San Jose Sharks.