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Someday, Nick Robertson may very well be a persistently elite participant for the Maple Leafs.

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On Thursday, the winger took a pleasant step towards that potential influence.

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In his first Leafs sport of the season, Robertson scored two objectives, together with the winner in extra time, giving the Leafs a 3-2 victory towards the Dallas Stars.

Earlier than a crowd of 18,488 at Scotiabank Enviornment, Robertson hammered a move from Auston Matthews behind Stars goalie Scott Wedgewood at 3:46 of the additional interval.

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That got here after Robertson made a positive play within the defensive zone, taking the puck from Stars captain Jamie Benn and main a rush with Morgan Rielly and Matthews. A return move from Matthews, who drew Wedgewood’s consideration away from Robertson, resulted within the winner.

“You sort of dream of these things, to attain in extra time within the NHL,” Robertson mentioned. “Now for me, it’s simply hold going, hold preventing and incomes daily.

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“Per week in the past if somebody mentioned I might get the OT winner, I’d say you have been loopy. You by no means know what can occur on this trade.”

As one might need anticipated, the 21-year-old Robertson introduced power in his 2022-23 debut. Demoted to the Toronto Marlies as a result of the Leafs have been afraid of shedding Denis Malgin on waivers, Robertson was summoned from the minors as soon as some cash cleared up when goalie Matt Murray went on long-term injured reserve.

Maple Leafs’ Alexander Kerfoot (15) scores a purpose on Dallas Stars goaltender Scott Wedgewood in the course of the second interval on Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022. COLE BURSTON/THE CANADIAN PRESSThere’s no purpose for the Leafs to disclaim Robertson, who performed on a line with captain John Tavares and William Nylander, a wholesome alternative to show his value.

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“Wonderful to see Nick come into our lineup and make a distinction,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe mentioned.

“He was feeling it. I assumed he had sport. He has the power to complete. He had two actually attractiveness, couple others that have been shut.

“He additionally did a whole lot of little issues rather well. He was on the puck, forechecked, acquired again on defence. It was an actual good efficiency for him.”

Mentioned Mitch Marner: “His two objectives stand for themselves, however his competitiveness on the puck, he gained a whole lot of 50-50 battles. Nice to observe and an enormous two objectives for us.”

The Leafs, who’re in Winnipeg to play the Jets on Saturday to start out a five-game journey, improved to 3-2-0. Dallas misplaced for the primary time, falling to 3-0-1.

The sport was the primary for the Leafs since Keefe known as out his elite gamers on Monday after a loss towards lowly Arizona. Whereas the coach walked these feedback again on Wednesday, they weren’t off the mark because the Leafs’ high gamers proceed to attempt to discover a regular rhythm.

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It wasn’t the Leafs’ greatest sport from begin to end, nevertheless it definitely was higher than what the workforce put forth versus the Coyotes.

“Actually (the previous 4 days) have most likely been fairly regular,” Keefe mentioned. “It has been completely different in right here (with the media), it has not been in numerous in there (the dressing room).

After Robertson fired a shot previous Wedgewood at 1:59 of third — aided by a terrific move by Michael Bunting — the Leafs had a 2-1 lead.

Dallas tied the sport at 7:21 on an influence play on a purpose by Tyler Sequin that initially had been known as off.

The decision on the ice was incidental contact with goalie Ilya Samsonov and Stars coach Peter DeBoer challenged.

After a prolonged assessment and assembly between referees Ghislain Hebert and Michael Markovic, the purpose stood. On the unique name, it appeared that Seguin might need pushed Samsonov, or pushed Marner into the netminder.

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“I did have really feel (about it), nevertheless it didn’t go the best way I felt,” Keefe mentioned. “We really feel fairly strongly Mitch was pushed in and the goalie didn’t have an opportunity to make a save. Of all of the goalie interference conditions, these are among the harder ones to name. You by no means know which manner it’s going to go.”

Toronto had some elevated hustle within the second interval and partly consequently, drew 5 Dallas minors.

The Leafs scored throughout one in every of them when the second power-play unit got here via at 2:31. Alex Kerfoot, parked to the proper of Wedgewood, had an open web to hit when the puck modified course and located its option to Kerfoot’s stick.

Dallas was the higher workforce within the first interval and had a 1-0 lead.

Luke Glendening scored at 14:45 when he smacked a rebound into the online below the proper arm of Samsonov.

tkoshan@postmedia.com

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