Maple Leafs rally to defeat struggling Canucks

Jordie Benn scored the winner in his Maple Leafs debut as Toronto came back from an early 2-0 deficit to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Saturday.

Auston Matthews and Pierre Engvall had the other goals for Toronto (8-5-3).

Erik Kallgren made 28 saves in his second start in as many nights after the Leafs lost 4-2 at home to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.

Bo Horvat and J.T. Miller replied for Vancouver (4-8-3). Spencer Martin stopped 32 shots for the struggling Canucks, who blew their sixth multi-goal lead of the season.

Down by that margin after a first period where they couldn't get out of second gear, the Leafs cut the visitors' lead in half when Matthews ripped his seventh of the campaign upstairs on a power play 1:46 after the restart.

Engvall then added his second on a scramble to tie it 2-2 at 6:27 as Toronto kept up the pressure before Benn, who injured his groin in pre-season and entered the lineup for the ailing T.J. Brodie, pinched down from his defensive position to score against his former team at 10:01.

WATCH | Benn pockets game-winner:

Brock Boeser hit the post for Vancouver on a power play early in the third, and Kallgren snagged an Andrei Kuzmenko shot later in the period off a turnover, but the Canucks couldn't find a third goal to force overtime.

Vancouver opened the scoring at 3:41 of the first period when Horvat tipped his 13th past Kallgren, who made his eighth appearance of 2022-23 with Matt Murray (groin/abductor) and Ilya Samsonov (knee) sidelined. Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said before the game Murray is targeting Tuesday in Pittsburgh for his return.

Miller then put the visitors up 2-0 on a power play at 12:11 when he fired his eighth past a screened Kallgren before Toronto responded