Tavares scores with 5 seconds left in OT, Maple Leafs recover to edge Ducks

ANAHEIM -- John Tavares scored his second goal of the game with five seconds left in overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 5-4 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Monday.

Tavares, who also had an assist, scored on a redirection in front off a pass from Morgan Rielly after the Maple Leafs rallied from a two-goal deficit midway through the third period.

Leo Carlsson’s second goal tied it 4-4 for Anaheim with 1:39 remaining in the third when he scored on a rebound from the left face-off circle will goaltender Ville Husso pulled for the extra skater.

William Nylander had a goal and three assists, Rielly had a goal and an assist, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson had two assists for the Maple Leafs (32-30-13), who have won three of four (3-1-0). Anthony Stolarz made 28 saves.

Toronto general manager Brad Treliving was fired earlier Monday after three seasons.

"We were inspired tonight, for sure," Toronto forward Matthew Knies said. "I thought we competed extremely hard tonight throughout the whole game."

Cutter Gauthier scored before leaving with an upper-body injury, and John Carlson scored his first goal with the Ducks (41-28-5), who have lost two in a row but have points in seven of their past eight (5-1-2). Jackson LaCombe had two assists, and Husso made 23 saves.

Ducks coach Joel Quenneville did not have an update on Gauthier after the game.

"We'll see how he is (Tuesday) and get a better read on it," Quenneville said.

Anaheim extended its first-place lead in the Pacific Division to four points over the Edmonton Oilers.

“We should have had two points in the game and been moving on," Carlson said. "I think we did a good job for a lot of the game in terms of how we played, and in terms of dealing with the emotions and dealing with what it was, but we’ve got to be more mature and come out on top of these games when we're coming down the stretch."

Rielly scored at 17:00 of the third period to give the Maple Leafs a 4-3 lead after they trailed 3-1 at the start of the third.

The Maple Leafs also rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Ducks 6-4 in Toronto on March 12.

"It was a gutsy win by us," Rielly said. "Our special teams were good too. I felt like it was back and forth. Obviously, lots of penalties both ways, but I felt like we stuck with it and did a great job."

After the Maple Leafs killed a two-minute 5-on-3 power play in the opening minutes, Carlsson gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 6:43 of the first period after Troy Terry made a cross-ice feed to him on the rush.

Gauthier’s power-play goal extended it to 2-0 lead at 9:46, appearing to surprise Stolarz with a wrist shot from near the wall that squeezed through his pads.

Gauthier, who leads the Ducks with 38 goals, left later in the period and did not return.

Tavares scored on the power play to cut it to 2-1 at 14:18, shooting a bouncing rebound into the net from between the hash marks.

Carlson’s power-play goal extended it to 3-1 at 11:33 of the second period. LaCombe brought the puck into the Toronto zone before dropping a pass for his defense partner, who skated into the right face-off circle before scoring with a wrist shot over the glove of Stolarz.

Carlson was acquired from the Washington Capitals on March 5 for a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.

Knies cut it to 3-2 at 6:55 of the third period on Toronto’s fifth power play with a snap shot from above the left circle. Nylander then scored on a breakaway to tie it 3-3 at 10:14 off a turnover by Ducks forward Beckett Sennecke.

“We should just get the puck deep every time we can there the last 10 (minutes), but we did not do that," Carlsson said. "They’re a great team in transition. Too sloppy by us.”

Carlsson, second on Anaheim with 26 goals, had to be helped off the ice in the opening minute of the third, but returned later in the period.

NOTES: Gauthier has the most goals (38) for an Anaheim player since Corey Perry scored 43 in 2013-14. His 12 goals in March are also the most in any month for an Anaheim player since Perry had 15 in March of 2011. ... Rielly’s assist on Tavares’ overtime winner tied Mats Sundin (27) for the third-most overtime points in Maple Leafs history. The list is topped by Auston Matthews (33) and William Nylander (29). ... Terry recorded his 205th career assist on Carlsson's first goal, passing Scott Niedermayer (204) for seventh most in franchise history. … Carlson extended his point streak to four games (one goal, seven assists).