LEAFS TAKEAWAYS: Don't burn the tape on this memorable win over the Oilers

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What better way to get back into the first-place hunt for the Maple Leafs than to beat a top-ranked team? 

Taking out the dynamic Stanley Cup-finalist Edmonton Oilers at home was the ideal way to bust a three-game losing streak and start a Western Canadian trip on the right foot. 

But the 4-3 win was a very narrow escape. Our takeaways: 

SHARP EYES IN THE SKY 

With the home crowd going crazy after the Oilers apparently tied the game 4-4 in the final minutes with their goalie pulled, erasing a three-goal Leafs lead, a calm Craig Berube called a timeout at Toronto’s bench to let video coaches Sam Kim and Jordan Bean get a good look at John Klingberg crossing the blue line just before Connor McDavid brought the puck in and delivered a nifty cross-ice feed to Leon Draisaitl for the one-timer.

That’s 12 successful challenges in a row that the Leafs’ duo has provided Berube and predecessor, Sheldon Keefe from their lair in the coaches office. Their review also resulted in McDavid being denied what would have been his lone point in the match.  

But the Leafs still almost gummed it up when they couldn’t produce an empty-net goal with control of the puck in the neutral zone, leading to another late Oilers flurry that Joseph Woll withstood. 

JOE THE PRO 

Many Leafs gave Woll a hearty hug after the game after he reached up while sprawled in the crease and got a glove on Corey Perry’s tying attempt at the buzzer. It would’ve been automatically reviewed for expired time had it got through, but it put the exclamation mark on Woll’s 45-save performance — 17 of those coming in the second period when the Leafs backed off a bit after taking a 3-0 lead in the first. 

Woll had stared down a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins short-handed breakaway in the opening period just before Matthew Knies’ power-play marker and, as mentioned, none of McDavid’s nine shots on net beat him. Woll also stopped seven of eight mostly bullet drives from the feared release of defenceman Evan Bouchard. 

Even though Anthony Stolarz is ready to be activated any day — he was the National Hockey League’s save percentage leader when exiting a few weeks ago for minor knee surgery — Woll has secured the top job for now. 

“We got another big game out of him,” winger Mitch Marner told Hockey Night in Canada. “I was fired up for him, just massive saves. Without him, who knows what that game is like?” 

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SPOTLIGHT ON THE BLUE LINE 

Berube’s carefully crafted pre-game plan for his defence — re-uniting shutdown pair Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev, with McCabe back on his familiar left side and the coach’s vote of confidence in Morgan Rielly — were scrapped when Oliver Ekman-Larsson didn’t come back after the first period. 

The coach said OEL was day-to-day without detailing his injury. At times, the five remaining blueliners looked gassed trying to keep up with the Oilers, especially when McDavid, Draisaitl and Zach Hyman were rolling. But McCabe found the energy to track down a breaking McDavid late in the game and legally body him off of the puck. 

Rielly, who came into the game a team-worst minus-18, had a badly needed assist on Bobby McMann’s goal, Toronto’s second on the power play. Rielly was also in good position to sweep a dangerous puck from the crease area early in the game, though he was on when Hyman made it 4-3. 

The Leafs also got a rugged game out of Conor Timmins, who came back in the lineup in tandem with Simon Benoit. Pending OEL’s health, the Leafs can use Philippe Myers on Tuesday in Calgary, but having not taken the still tender Jani Hakanpaa on the trip, a Marlies call-up might be needed. 

STRAIGHT LINES 

As Berube hoped, the return of Knies (shoulder) and John Tavares (leg) gave the Leafs three scoring line threats. Knies, Auston Matthews and Marner were in on a couple of goals. There were six quick passes on the breakout in the opening minute of the final period, finishing with Marner’s nifty rush through the Oilers pickets for a five-hole goal. 

William Nylander scored the opener with Tavares back as his centre before McMann deftly corralled Rielly’s rebound and converted on a high back-hand. Both man-advantage goals came from the net front presence Berube has been demanding. 

Pontus Holmberg, relieved of being mis-cast as a second line centre, aided a determined puck-possession shift by the fourth line, with David Kampf and Steven Lorentz, to take precious seconds off of the clock in the final minutes. 

Lhornby@postmedia.com 

X: @sunhornby