Late goals sink exhausted Sharks in loss to Maple Leafs

TORONTO — Patrick Marleau’s return to Scotiabank Arena in his 1,500th game with the Sharks ended on a sour note.

After being dominated for large stretches of the second and third periods, the Sharks allowed a third period goal to Morgan Rielly with 5:29 left in the third period in a 4-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

With the Sharks defenders backing up at the blue line, William Nylander entered the Sharks zone and found Rielly with a cross-ice pass.Rielly made no mistake, beating goalie Martin Jones for his third goal of the season.

Ilya Mikheyev and Auston Matthews both scored in the final minute for Toronto.

The Sharks were playing their third game in four nights Friday, and it showed, as they managed just 10 shots on goal in the first two periods and four shots in the third.

The Sharks lost in Buffalo to the Sabres in overtime on Tuesday and beat the Canadiens in Montreal 4-2 on Thursday.

Further exasperating matters were the five penalties the Sharks had to kill, including delay of game calls on Timo Meier and Melker Karlsson in the third period.

Jones stopped the first 16 shots he faced but couldn’t do anything on Jake Muzzin’s goal with 1.9 seconds left in the second period that tied the game.

Leafs forward Jason Spezza retrieved a puck in the corner to the right of Jones and fired it back toward the net. Jones got a stick on it but couldn’t get it past an open Muzzin, who tapped it in for his second goal of the season.

The Sharks had just three shots on net in the second period as they had to kill off back-to-back minor penalties to Mario Ferraro and Barclay Goodrow.

The Sharks also killed a first period penalty to Logan Couture, as Auston Matthews and Rielly both had shots go through the crease past Jones. Alexander Kerfoot also had a golden chance, but his breakaway opportunity was stopped by Jones, who had nine saves in the first 20 minutes.

Jones’ early play allowed the Sharks a chance to reset and later grab a lead at the 10:35 mark of the first, as Labanc tipped a point shot from Burns past Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen for his fourth goal of the season and his sixth point in seven games.

Marleau became just the seventh player in NHL history to play 1,500 games with the same franchise, joining a list that includes Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lindstrom.

Marleau was given a warm welcome back by Leafs fans after he played two seasons in a Toronto uniform from 2017-2019.. Marleau was given a video tribute by the Leafs and a warm ovation, who he acknowledged from the bench during a television time out.