Jordie Benn scores as Maple Leafs beat Canucks 3-2

Updated Nov. 12, 2022 10:19 p.m. ET
Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — Jordie Benn snapped a second-period tie in his first game with Toronto, sending the Maple Leafs to a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.

Auston Matthews and Pierre Engvall also scored for Toronto, and Erik Kallgren made 28 saves. Kallgren stopped 19 shots in Friday night's 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh.

Bo Horvat and J.T. Miller scored for Vancouver. Spencer Martin stopped 32 shots for the struggling Canucks, who blew their sixth multigoal lead of the season.

Vancouver led 2-0 after one, but Toronto got on the board when Matthews scored a power-play goal 1:46 into the second period. It was Matthews' seventh of the season.

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Engvall then tied it at 2 at 6:27 as Toronto kept up the pressure. Benn, who had been sidelined by a preseason groin injury and entered the lineup for an ailing T.J. Brodie, pinched down from his defensive position to score against his former team at 10:01.

Brock Boeser hit the post for Vancouver on a power play early in the third, and Kallgren snagged an Andrei Kuzmenko shot later in the period off a turnover.

Vancouver opened the scoring at 3:41 of the first when Horvat tipped in his 13th. Miller then put the visitors up 2-0 on a power play at 12:11 when he fired his eighth past a screened Kallgren.

WORTH NOTING

Kallgren made his eighth appearance of 2022-23 with Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov sidelined by injuries. Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said Murray is targeting Tuesday in Pittsburgh for his return.

UP NEXT

Canucks: At Boston on Sunday night for the fifth of a six-game trip.

Maple Leafs: At Pittsburgh on Tuesday night before returning for a three-game homestand.

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