Recap: Ducks Can't Complete Comeback Bid in 3-2 Loss to Maple Leafs

The Ducks once again fought back from a two-goal deficit in the third period, but could not finish the job with a third straight win, tonight falling 3-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Honda Center.

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The loss dropped Anaheim to 32-33-8 on the season, 15 points back of a playoff position with nine games still to play.

Leo Carlsson and Sam Colangelo scored for the Ducks, the latter tying the game two minutes into the third. Olen Zellweger, Cutter Gauthier, Trevor Zegras and Jackson LaCombe collected assists, as all six Ducks to find the scoresheet were age 24-or-younger. Lukas Dostal made 20 saves in his 47th outing of the season.

Max Domi, Mitch Marner and Steven Lorentz scored for the Maple Leafs, who improved to 45-25-4 on the season and expanded their lead atop the Atlantic Division. Goaltender Joseph Woll earned his 25th win of the season, and his second over Anaheim, with stops on 28-of-30 Ducks shots.

Toronto appeared to take a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the action when winger Matthew Knies shoveled home a centering pass from linemate Auston Matthews behind the net, but the goal was wiped out by a successful Anaheim challenge for a missed game stoppage - a high stick by Toronto's Mitch Marner just prior to the goal.

Instead the Leafs would go ahead in the final minute of the first period as Domi cut inside off the rush on left wing and beat Dostal with a backhander up over the glove.

Center Scott Laughton, acquired from Philadelphia at the NHL Trade Deadline for a first-round draft pick and forward prospect Nikita Grebenkin, collected an assist on the goal, his first as a Leaf. An Oakville, ON native known for his two-way prowess, Laughton has tallied 1-1=2 points in his first 12 games with Toronto.

Marner briefly doubled the Toronto lead midway through the second, tucking a forehand bid past Dostal on a breakaway.

Anaheim answered on the very next shift though, getting back within one on an impressive individual effort by Carlsson. The big center first tracked down a rebound below the goal line and circled the cage, feeding a pass to Zellweger up high and following it along the right wing wall. Zellweger then returned the favor, allowing Carlsson space to cut to the middle and fire his shot through traffic - a bid that found the post behind Woll and then the back of the net.

The goal clinched both Carlsson's first career 20-goal and 40-point season. He's collected four goals and seven points in his last three games, including his first career four-point performance Friday against the Rangers. Carlsson now co-leads the Ducks in goals (20) and ranks fifth in points this season.

Late in his second NHL campaign, Carlsson now owns 32 career goals, tied with Mason McTavish for the most by a Duck at age 20-or-younger. He's scored 11 of those goals since representing Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off just over a month ago, sixth-most in the NHL during that span.

Gauthier collected an assist on the goal and now has points in three straight games. One of just three Ducks to appear in each of the club's 73 games so far this season, Gauthier ranks fourth among NHL rookies in scoring (15-23=38) and goals, and tied for fifth in assists.

The 2-1 score held until early in the third, when some handy special teams work pulled the home side back even. With the Ducks on the power play, earned via a Morgan Reilly trip on Isac Lundestrom seconds after a successful Anaheim penalty kill, the puck came to Zegras open in the left faceoff circle, where he quickly zipped a pass to Colangelo at the backdoor. Fighting off a Toronto defender, Colangelo rang the post with his first bid, but made no mistake with the second, punching it home past the lunging Woll to tie the game at two.

Colangelo has scored seven goals in 23 NHL appearances this season, fifth among qualified NHL rookies in goals-per-game (.30), along with 19 goals in 38 games with the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League.

LaCombe extended his scoring streak to five games with an assist on Colangelo's goal. The 24-year-old has been one of the league's most productive defensemen since the turn of the New Year, placing in the top-15 in points, goals and assists during that span. He leads Ducks blueliners in all three categories this season, just his second in the NHL.

The decisive goal would go to Toronto though with eight minutes to go in regulation as Lorentz found free space in the low slot and tipped home David Kampf's point shot just under the crossbar.

The Ducks conclude a five-game homestand Tuesday against San Jose.