Maple Leafs crown Kings with 1st loss in regulation
Frederik Andersen made 36 saves, and the Toronto Maple Leafs handed the Los Angeles Kings their first regulation loss of the season with a 3-2 victory on Monday night.
Matt Martin, Tyler Bozak and Patrick Marleau scored for the Maple Leafs (7-2-0). Mitch Marner added two assists.
Toronto has won at least seven of its first nine games for the first time since the 1993-94 season and just the seventh time overall in franchise history.
Adrian Kempe and Trevor Lewis scored for Los Angeles (6-1-1), which had won four in a row. Jonathan Quick stopped 31 shots.
Toronto defenseman Roman Polak made his season debut after signing a $1.1 million, one-year deal on Sunday. He had one assist and played 12-plus minutes.
Marner helped the Maple Leafs jump in front 5:46 into the first. He entered the zone and curled behind the net before teeing up Polak for a one-timer from the blue line that Martin deflected past Quick from the top of the crease.
Bozak made it 2-0 when he jammed home a rebound on a power play with 5:16 to play in the second. But Kempe quickly responded for Los Angeles, beating Andersen with a wrist shot.
Kings defenseman Drew Doughty got cut on the nose by Marleau's skate midway through the second, but was OK to play on once the bleeding stopped.
The Kings held a 29-24 shot advantage through 40 minutes.
Marner scored early in the third, but it was waived off for incidental contact on Quick, who was taken out of the play by a sliding Martin. Leafs coach Mike Babcock challenged the call and lost.
Marleau scored 26 seconds later with a deflection that went to review for a high stick, but the call stood and it was 3-1 Leafs 2:46 into the third.
Lewis cut into Toronto's lead with a short-handed goal with 7:41 to go, getting alone on Andersen before sneaking the puck through his pads.
Any chance of a comeback was halted when Quick took a minor for interference with 2:05 to play.
It was one rough night for Quick, who took an errant elbow from teammate Derek Forbort with 2:59 remaining in the first period and clutched his head briefly, but continued on.
With 1:11 to go in the period, Quick was forced off the ice, possibly for concussion protocol by either the in-arena spotter or central league spotter. He returned at the next whistle without going to the locker room, visiting with the team trainer in the tunnel. He missed just 36 seconds of game action while replaced by Darcy Kuemper.
NOTES: Leafs F Eric Fehr was placed on waivers earlier in the day. ... Polak replaced Connor Carrick on defense.
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