Max Domi couldn’t have scripted a better way to mark his 200th game in a Maple Leafs sweater. With just over three minutes gone in overtime, Domi buried the game-winner off a slick feed from Auston Matthews, capping a wild 4-3 comeback win over the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Saturday night.
This one had a bit of everything - resilience, grit, and a little late-game magic. Toronto trailed 3-1 in the third period, missing key pieces in William Nylander (lower body) and Simon Benoit (upper body), and still found a way to claw back. It was the kind of response that speaks volumes about the team’s mindset after a rollercoaster four-game road trip.
Let’s rewind a bit. The Leafs opened the trip with an overtime win in Colorado - a strong start that quickly gave way to a 6-1 drubbing by the Utah Mammoth and a wild 6-5 OT loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
So heading into Winnipeg, Toronto was looking to reset the tone. And after a shaky start, they did exactly that.
Down 3-1 early in the third, Oliver Ekman-Larsson got the ball rolling with a goal at 5:58, finishing a crisp cross-ice pass from Nick Robertson. That goal cut the deficit to one and gave the Leafs a much-needed jolt.
Then, with just over four minutes left, Bobby McMann got a piece of an Ekman-Larsson shot, tipping it past Connor Hellebuyck to tie the game at 3-3. It was a gritty goal - the kind you score when you’re willing to take a beating in front of the net - and it set the stage for Domi’s overtime heroics.
But before that could happen, Toronto had to survive a tense penalty kill. Matthew Knies was sent off for high-sticking with under four minutes to go in regulation, and the Jets came inches from taking the lead back. Jonathan Toews rang a shot off the post and then the crossbar during the man advantage - a close call that could’ve flipped the script entirely.
Earlier in the third, Winnipeg had pushed its lead to 3-1 when Nino Niederreiter muscled his way around Morgan Rielly and tucked one past Dennis Hildeby at 2:28. It looked like a potential dagger at the time, especially with the Leafs’ recent struggles holding leads and mounting comebacks. But this time, they answered the bell.
The Jets had built a 2-0 cushion in the second period, but Matthews - as he’s done so many times - delivered a timely response. Just 23 seconds after Kyle Connor made it 2-0, Matthews struck at 9:22, snapping a shot past Hellebuyck off a sharp setup from Domi behind the net.
That goal was Matthews’ ninth in his last nine games, and with two points on the night, he’s now just one shy of tying Borje Salming for fourth on the Leafs’ all-time scoring list. Salming, a Hall of Famer and franchise icon, finished his Toronto career with 768 points - a number Matthews is now poised to match.
This win won’t fix everything - the defensive lapses, the inconsistencies, the injuries - but it’s the kind of game that can galvanize a group. Coming from behind, on the road, against a hot team like Winnipeg (who saw their four-game win streak snapped), and doing it without two regulars in the lineup? That’s a character win.
And for Domi, scoring the OT winner in Game 200 with the Leafs? That’s a moment he won’t forget anytime soon.