Toronto Maple Leafs centre John Tavares (91) is greeted by teammates after scoring the game-winning goal during overtime of an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks, Monday, March 30, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

By The Canadian Press

Tavares scores with 5 seconds left in OT to lift Leafs to 5-4 win over Ducks

Mar 30, 2026 | 11:29 PM

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — John Tavares redirected a shot from Morgan Rielly into the net with five seconds left in overtime to lift the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over the Anaheim Ducks in a fight-marred game Monday night.

The Leafs overcame a 3-1 deficit with three goals in the third period, including Rielly’s snap shot from the high slot that beat Anaheim goalie Ville Husso stick-side to give Toronto a 4-3 lead with three minutes left in regulation.

But Leo Carlsson, who hobbled to the locker room after taking a hard hit and falling to the ice in the first minute of the third, gathered a loose puck near the left circle and flicked a shot past Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz to make it 4-4 with 1:39 left.

Tavares added a first-period goal, and Stolarz stopped 28 of 32 shots for Toronto, which took the ice about 1 1/2 hours after general manager Brad Treliving was fired near the end of his third season, with the Maple Leafs on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier scored in the first 10 minutes, and John Carlson scored his first goal for the Ducks. Gauthier, who leads the Pacific Division-leading Ducks with 38 goals and 65 points, suffered an upper-body injury on a cross-check late in the first and did not return. Husso had 23 saves.

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Ducks captain Radko Gudas, slowed by a lower-body injury, insisted on playing in the rematch of a March 12 game in which his knee-on-knee hit on Auston Matthews led to a season-ending injury for the Toronto captain and a five-game suspension for Gudas.

It took three seconds for the Leafs to exact some revenge, Toronto forward Max Domi and Gudas dropping the gloves and exchanging punches as soon as the puck dropped.

That set the tone for a hard-hitting game that featured a combined 85 penalty minutes, numerous scuffles and game misconducts incurred by Toronto’s Michael Pezzetta and Domi in the second.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Visit the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.

Ducks: Visit the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Mike Digiovanna, The Associated Press