Mitch Marner scored 36 seconds into overtime and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Montreal Canadiens 1-0 on Saturday night.
Marner scored from the edge of the left circle after taking a pass from William Nylander. Anthony Stolarz made 15 saves to earn his third shutout of the season and the 11th of his career.
The Maple Leafs (49-26-4, 102 points) opened a four-point lead in the Atlantic Division over the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning.
Jakub Dobes stopped 34 shots for the Canadiens (39-31-10, 88 points), who needed a win in regulation to clinch a playoff spot.
The Canadiens have had first-period problems recently, but they had more early energy on Saturday. The problem was getting their shots on goal through the depleted Toronto defense despite having the only power play. The Maple Leafs had a 10-2 advantage in shots on goal.
With Oliver Ekman-Larsson out with an undisclosed injury, Toronto played with five defensemen. That led to Marner playing a shift on defense in the first period.
Montreal started the second period with a surge that included three good scoring chances. The momentum was interrupted when Toronto took to the power play at 3:54. Montreal effectively killed the penalty as Toronto did not get a shot on goal during the two minutes.
After an ineffective Montreal power play, the Maple Leafs were more dangerous on their second power play of the game that started at 11:29 of the second. They tested Dobes as they stormed the net but failed to score.
Montreal continued to have plenty of shot attempts during the period that either went wide, over the crossbar or failed to get through the Toronto defense.
Toronto had a 5-on-3 advantage for 18 seconds starting at 4:41 of the third period and Marner shot wide of an open net.
Toronto’s John Tavares was thwarted on a close-in shot at 11:30 of the third.
Montreal started to find some openings and tested Stolarz in a sequence around the 14-minute mark.
The Canadiens defeated the Maple Leafs 1-0 in the opening game of the season at Montreal on Oct. 9.
–Field Level Media
