Game 51 - Leafs 4, Phoenix 2 - Leafs grab early lead, hold on for a win in the desert

A rare win in Arizona came for the Leafs, as they took advantage of their early chances to get out to a 3-0 lead, then held on, riding Jonathan Bernier, as they have so often this season, to a fifth consecutive victory, and a second straight regulation win.

The two teams were very even in the first period, but it was the Leafs who managed to finish the frame up by a pair, as Jake Gardiner got on the end of a loose puck as confusion reigned in the Coyotes zone, and Phil Kessel fired in a trademark shot.

Phoenix had a much sharper start to the second, but the Leafs were rewarded with a third, Carl Gunnarsson scoring his first in almost a full year. The Coyotes then dominated the remainder of the period, outchancing the Leafs 9-3, but weren't able to find a breakthrough. 

The third period was an odd one, as the home team struggled to generate any chances at even strength, but pulled one back on the powerplay, and generated a raft of shorthanded chances. Nazem Kadri scored a PP goal with 6 minutes left, which turned out to be critical, as a shorthanded goal less than a minute later cut the lead back to two. Toronto allowed only one chance against after that, as they showed some decent ability to hold onto the lead, despite giving Phoenix a lot of possession.

Phoenix outchanced the Leafs 13-8 at ES, and 9-4 in the last two periods. In the short part of the game that qualified as close, the chances were more even, 4-3 for Toronto.

A summary of the scoring chances:

Status	Overall		ES
Team	Toronto	Phoenix	Toronto	Phoenix
1	6	4	4	4
2	4	11	4	7
3	2	9	0	2
Total	12	24	8	13

Details below.

Game 37 - Leafs 2, Phoenix 1 (SO) - Leafs survive Coyotes' late push to win in shootout

After falling behind early in their last two games, the Leafs were able to get out of the first period with a lead, then managed to hold on to survive to a shootout, which they won.

Toronto kept Phoenix chanceless for the last 15 minutes of the first period, in which they managed a goal, through Troy Bodie, leaving the period with the lead on the scoreboard, as well as being narrowly ahead in chances.

Phoenix nearly doubled up on the Leafs in chances while chasing the lead, winning the battle 11-6 between the ned of the first and their eventual equalizer, scored by Hanzal in the last five minutes. Toronto managed to hold on to that lead through the end of regulation, and despite three Phoenix chances in overtime, made it to a shootout.

Toronto lost the ES chance battle by 5, with most of Phoenix's advantage coming in the second period, when they weren't able to cut into the Leafs' lead.

A summary of the scoring chances:

Status	Overall		ES
Team	Toronto	Phoenix	Toronto	Phoenix
1	4	2	3	2
2	2	6	2	5
3	5	6	5	6
4	1	3	1	3
Total	12	17	11	16

Details below.