Gardiner's goal and assist lead Leafs over Stars
TORONTO -- Jake Gardiner scored a goal and added an assist, Curtis McElhinney made 39 saves, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Dallas Stars 3-1 on Tuesday night.
McElhinney, a 33-year-old backup goaltender who was picked up on waivers from Columbus on Jan. 10, was making his fourth appearance for the Maple Leafs after playing seven games with the Blue Jackets.
Auston Matthews and Nikita Zaitsev also scored for the Maple Leafs (25-17-10).
Tyler Seguin scored for the Stars, who lost their third game in a row. Dallas (21-23-10) got 31 saves from goaltender Antii Niemi.
The Maple Leafs led 1-0 when Gardiner wired a shot from just inside the blue line at 9:09 of the first period for his seventh goal of the season. Mitch Marner made the pass to Gardiner.
Toronto's Nazem Kadri was assessed two minor penalties at 18:02 of the first period for hooking and crosschecking, but the Stars could not take advantage of the four-minute power play.
Dallas also killed off two penalties in the second period.
The Maple Leafs took a 2-0 lead at 17:32 of the second period when Matthews tipped in Gardiner's shot from the left point for his team-leading 25th goal of the season.
The Stars scored a power-play goal at 4:00 of the third period when Seguin fired home his 20th of the season from the slot with Toronto's Zach Hyman serving a holding penalty.
Toronto had a two-man advantage when Dallas' Cody Eakins was penalized for crosschecking at 4:53 and Adam Cracknell was sent off for goaltender interference at 5:47 of the third. Dallas was again two men short with Radek Faksa going off for delay of game at 6:57.
This time, Toronto took advantage, scoring at 7:29 on a shot by Zaitsev from the top edge of the right faceoff circle. It was the defenseman's second goal of the season.
Niemi was removed for an extra attacker with 3:09 to play.
NOTES: Toronto G Frederik Andersen, who has played in 43 games this season, did not start Tuesday after allowing six goals in the overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Monday. He allowed three goals on eight shots on Jan. 31 in a 6-3 loss to Dallas before being replaced by Curtis McElhinney, who started Tuesday. ... Dallas RW Jiri Hudler played in his first game since Jan. 19. ... The Stars were without C Jason Spezza (upper-body injury), who was put on injured reserve Saturday. ... The Maple Leafs, who completed a 2-3-1 road trip Monday, play the second of four straight home games Thursday against the St. Louis Blues. ... The Stars play their next game Thursday when they visit the Ottawa Senators.