TORONTO - Jake Gardiner scored in overtime Tuesday night as Auston Matthews' Toronto Maple Leafs prevailed 5-4 over Patrik Laine's Winnipeg Jets.
Matthews had three assists in the win and Leo Komarov scored twice for Toronto, which jumped back into control of the final Eastern Conference wild card spot (28-20-11).
Nazem Kadri also scored for the Leafs, William Nylander posted two points with a goal and Frederik Andersen made 16 saves, yielding four goals to the Jets (28-29-6).
Laine scored twice for Winnipeg, becoming the first rookie in franchise history to record 30 goals in a season. Laine surpassed Ilya Kovalchuk's mark of 29 goals set in 2001-02 with the Atlanta Thrashers.
Mark Scheifele chipped in with two assists. Nikolaj Ehlers and Bryan Little also scored. Connor Hellebuyck gave up five goals on 37 shots.
The first and second picks of the 2016 draft, Matthews and Laine had top billing for their second NHL matchup and they delivered early (and again later).
Komarov opened the scoring 62 seconds into the first when his shot from just above the goal-line in the left corner snuck between the pads of Hellebuyck.
Then it was Laine.
After miscommunication between Leafs in the defensive zone, Scheifele gained control of the puck along the wall and fired it to the weak-side where Laine lay in wait. He took the pass and whistled it almost instantaneously into the back of the net for his 29th goal this year.
Leafs defenceman Nikita Zaitsev lingered close to Laine on the play, but not close enough to prevent the 18-year-old's rapid release.
Matthews had a chance to score a few minutes later, but was unable to stuff a rebound around the right pad of the Jets goaltender. He later drew an offensive zone penalty on Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien.
The Jets went in front 2-1 on the power play at about the midway point of the opening frame. Andersen stopped the first shot, a big blast from the point by Byfuglien, but the rebound hung around the crease where it was pushed in by Little, his 17th goal in only 40 games this season.
Toronto was shorthanded after Kadri took a tripping penalty in retaliation against Byfuglien, who delivered a hard hit in the Jets zone moments earlier.
Little almost scored again on the Jets power play late in the first, but his goal with five seconds to go was cast aside on account of a high-stick.
Both teams were without key talents for the tilt - the Jets missing defenceman Jacob Trouba for the first game of a two-game suspension, Leafs rookie Mitch Marner sidelined for the third straight game with a suspected shoulder injury.
The Leafs lost another player to injury in the first, with Connor Carrick exiting after only four shifts with an upper-body ailment. He was hit hard in the Toronto zone by Mathieu Perrault.
A fast-paced second period saw the two teams trade goals, beginning with Kadri's 25th of the year. The 26-year-old took a pass from linemate Josh Leivo in the slot, quickly slid the puck from forehand to backhand and just got a shot off, avoiding Hellebuyck's poke-check.
Ehlers gave the Jets the lead back less than two minutes later, deflecting a Josh Morrissey point shot for his 20th goal this year.
Komarov evened it back up at three with his second of the game on a late-period power play. Nylander drove the action, wheeling around the Jets zone before dishing to Komarov from a spot in the right face-off circle.
That wasn't it for a hectic 20 minutes though.
Kadri delivered a punishing hit on Winnipeg defenceman Ben Chiarot with 10 seconds to go, which eventually elicited the attention of Byfuglien. While the Jets defender attempted to square things with Kadri after the hit - Byfuglien and Matt Martin would eventually trade blows - Scheifele found Laine in the high slot, the Finnish winger scoring his second of the game.
He's the first 18-year-old in the NHL to hit the mark since Jeff Skinner notched 31 for the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2010-11 season. Laine is also the fifth rookie in the past 25 seasons to score 30 in 55 games or fewer, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
He posted a hat trick, including the overtime winner, in his first meeting with Matthews' Leafs, a 5-4 Jets victory back in October.
Assisting on Komarov's second goal of the night, Matthews picked up another helper on Nylander's game-tying power-play goal three and a half minutes into the third. The 19-year-old fired a shot off the end boards, the puck caroming right to Nylander on the opposite side, his shot fired easily in the cage.
Nylander leads the Leafs and all NHL rookies with 19 power-play points this season. He trails only Laine (54), Matthews (52), and Marner (48) in the overall rookie scoring race with 42 points.
