Toronto Maple Leafs win over Vancouver Canucks

VANCOUVER – The Christmas rush was on, but Fred-Ex delivered again for the Maple Leafs.

After getting shots down to a manageable 30 and under the past few games, the Leafs’ yen for more offence was flipped to a series of breakaways and difficult deflections that needed Frederik Andersen at peak power of intuition. Versus the dangerous Brock Boeser in particular, with eight of the Canucks’ 39 shots, Andersen kept raising his big left mitt to halt the threat.

With the 4-1 win, the Leafs have now guaranteed a split on their four-game road trip that pulls into Calgary on Thursday. After coming out for this Pacific time zone start knowing some Eastern Conference rivals had already won, Toronto jumped Tampa Bay and the Rangers in the standings to tie Montreal and remain a point out of the wildcard spot.

Andersen could laugh off that his own teammates made it tougher on him, including a soft pass by William Nylander in the third for one of Boeser’s gifts. Andersen was only beaten by ex-Leaf Josh Leivo, who kept chopping away at a loose puck.

“It’s fun to make those saves, be a difference maker, help the team,” Andersen said of NHL win No. 199. “They took care of everything up in their end and had some huge goals.”

Two were by captain John Tavares, including the winner and third-period insurance. Where Andersen was frustrating the Canucks by tracking some tricky tips, Tavares re-directed Cody Ceci’s shot past Jakob Markstrom to support Auston Matthews’ goal early in the period. Tavares had assisted on that first one with a great a great backhand pass from behind Vancouver’s net and completed his first three-point game of the season on a goal that gave Justin Holl his first ever two-point game in his 43rd start.

Andersen had already locked it down with his second highest save total of the season, putting him second to the Flames David Rittich in the league with 721 overall.

“I’m trying to read off what they’re showing and react,” said Andersen, simplifying his explanation of the evening’s work. “A couple of those deflections in the second period, I saw them do that a lot when the Sedins were here. I tried to remain square to the play.”

The post-game accolades poured in.

“Ideally, you probably wouldn’t want to see him make five breakaway saves,” deadpanned Matthews. “But that’s just a credit to him. He was just dialled in.”

Matthews now has goals in consecutive matches and Tuesday was his 100th even-strength goal in 243 games, a mark bettered only by Alex Ovechkin among active players. Tavares has also tied Nylander for second place on the Leafs with 23 points.

“It was a great game overall in terms of energy (close to a split of Leaf and Canucks fans amid 18,000-plus) and in pace,” said Tavares. “(On his tip goal) you’re just fighting for every inch of ice and anything you can do to get some production. It’s the same defensively.”

As coach Sheldon Keefe repeats in measured tones, the Leafs still need to find balance between creativity and the turnovers it can create if they don’t support it with defensive positioning.

“We know if we make a mistake, (Andersen) will be there. It’s great he was up to the challenge and those were game-changing saves. But I thought except for those breakaways, we were doing a good job defending him.

“We feel pretty strongly that if teams threaten (only) from the perimeter, Freddy is going to handle those quite easily. There were mistakes, but the guys competed.”

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