Recuperating Canucks rally to claim overtime victory against Leafs

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Of course, the Maple Leafs would win. Under these circumstances, it almost was a given. Aside from Travis Green, it was what everyone expected. The Canucks, wobbling out of their COVID-19 sick beds, had not played in 24 days. That they were able to skate around on Sunday night at Rogers Arena in Vancouver without oxygen was pretty much a miracle.

Twenty-four players and Green, the Vancouver head coach, were infected with a variant of the serious respiratory disease. A few still remain unwell. The others wheezed through three practice sessions this week – two more than the NHL originally planned to give them – before entertaining an opponent in real time for the first time since March 24.

Maple Leafs land in Vancouver, hoping COVID-19 doesn’t spoil the show

They did well. They battled hard, and at some times, valiantly. In short, they did the near-impossible. They embarrassed a healthier Toronto team and went home with a remarkable 3-2 overtime victory. That really wasn’t what mattered here at the beginning, but at the end Lazarus walked out of the ER ward. This was nearly historical in a sense. The Canucks are the first major pro sports team to be devastated by the novel coronavirus, and they returned, with a flourish.

Bo Horvat scored the game-winner, his second goal of the night, with 3:41 left in sudden death.

Only a few days ago, Green was uncertain he would be able to stand behind the Vancouver bench. His voice was raspy when he spoke to journalists on a video call on Saturday. He had just presided over practice for the first time since he fell sick.

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“I am feeling better,” Green said. His pallor said otherwise. “The last few weeks have been trying for sure. I was scared. I was like a lot of the players. I had flu-like symptoms for four or five days. Then I thought I was coming out of it and it got a lot worse for another five or six days. The physical part is hard, but the mental part is hard when you are going through this as well.”

The Canucks had seven games postponed from their original schedule. The league has made so many additions and then sudden subtractions that it is now getting hard to keep count. Their players balked on Thursday, refusing to play a game scheduled with Edmonton after just one day of practice. The NHL moved Saturday’s game with Toronto to Sunday, and Monday’s to Tuesday, generously allowing them two more days to recover.

The Canucks were already in tough when it comes to the playoffs. They were two points out of a berth when they last played. As of now, they are 10 back of the fourth and final position. After a long layoff, they drew not one game but two against Toronto, the top team in the all-Canadian North Division.

They were outshot 39-24, but won.

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It left Sheldon Keefe, the Toronto coach, angry. He could barely spit out any words.

“I don’t know,” he said, when asked about how the Canucks mustered such an effort. “Their goalie made 10 point-blank saves.”

He was speaking of Braden Holtby. The Canucks netminder stopped 37 shots in. only his fifth victory of the season.

William Nylander, who sat out five games while in COVID-19 protocol, put Toronto ahead when he snapped a wrist shot past Holtby from 30 feet out less than four minutes into the game. It was Nylander’s 14th goal of the season and the 100th of his career. He did not have COVID-19, but came into contact with someone who did.

As expected, Toronto carried the play but could not get another past Holtby in the first. The latter, who helped the Capitals win a Stanley Cup, has won only four of 12 decisions, and lost the starting job. Thatcher Demko, the fellow who took it away, was unavailable on Sunday night. He is still recuperating from COVID-19.

Toronto added a second goal in the second period on a power play to go up 2-0. It was the Maple Leafs’ second goal in their past 45 power-play attempts and definitely nothing to celebrate. They failed to connect on three previous attempts and it took all but the final 19 seconds of a five-minute penalty for Auston Matthews to connect with his league-leading 33rd goal. Both of Toronto’s special teams are struggling at this point, but the power play unit is almost in slapstick territory.

“We talk about it every single day,” Morgan Rielly, the Toronto defenceman, said on Saturday. “It is obviously not enjoyable.”

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Despite being outshot 27-12 through the first 40 minutes, the Canucks went to their dressing room for the second intermission trailing only 2-1. Their captain, Horvat, who always plays well against Toronto, ripped a shot past Jack Campbell on a breakaway to cut the margin to one with 3:37 left in the second period.

Campbell was back in net after getting pulled from Thursday’s 5-2 loss to Winnipeg. He had allowed 11 goals on his previous 60 shots. Campbell has lost three successive starts after winning his first 11 to start the season. He stopped 21 of 24 on Sunday.

“It is a little bit of a slump for us and for me personally,” Campbell said. The Maple Leafs have now lost four in a row. “I don’t think they surprised us. They looked good and our guys did, too.

“Holtby was sensational tonight and outplayed me.”

The Canucks never gave up, neither to COVID nor Toronto.

Brandon Sutter, the Canucks centre, mused that the illness hit him so hard he pretty much had 10 different symptoms. In addition to him, his wife, who is 23 weeks pregnant, and both of their young children also became ill.

“It’s like something you have never felt before,” he said.

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This was the first of five games on the road for the Maple Leafs. After playing in Vancouver again on Tuesday, they have three in a row against the second-place Jets.

They may be without their hard-working forward Zach Hyman, who was injured in the second period when he was kneed by Alex Edler, the Canucks defenceman. Edler got a five-minute penalty for it and was ejected from the game.

Keefe was in no mood to talk about that play, either, or the extent of Hyman’s injury.

“I don’t know, we’ll find out [on Monday],” he said.

Asked to comment more on the play, which Nylander said was dirty, Keefe deferred.

“My opinion doesn’t matter,” he said.