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On the way to losing 6-5 in overtime to Mitch Marner and the rest of the Golden Knights, the Leafs did something they had never done before.

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For the first time in franchise history, the Leafs lost at T-Mobile Arena despite holding four two-goal leads — 2-0, 3-1, 4-2 and 5-3.

Via the National Hockey League stats department, it was just the fourth time in NHL history that a team lost a game during which it held at least four two-goal leads.

Oddly, each of the three previous times involved losses by the Los Angeles Kings, with the most recent loss occurring nearly 39 years ago.

On March 21, 1987, the Kings had four two-goal leads against the Boston Bruins before losing 8-6.

On Jan. 23, 1983, in a game against the Edmonton Oilers, the Kings had five two-goal leads, but lost 8-6.

And on March 7, 1982, the Kings lost 7-6 against the Hartford Whalers despite holding four two-goal leads.

The recap

On Thursday, goals by Morgan Rielly and William Nylander staked the Leafs to a 2-0 lead. Vegas responded with a goal by Pavel Dorofeyev before captain Auston Matthews put the Leafs up 3-1 at 9:57 of the first period.

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Keegan Kolesar cut the Leafs lead to 3-2 six minutes into the second, but John Tavares scored a power-play goal at 12:46 to make it 4-2 Toronto.

Dorofeyev scored a power-play goal early in the third and it was 4-3 for the Leafs until Scott Laughton restored a two-goal lead at 8:58 of the third, putting the Leafs up 5-3.

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William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates with the puck against Noah Hanifin (left) and Kaedan Korczak of the Vegas Golden Knights.

Why the Maple Leafs can’t afford to lose William Nylander again

William Nylander #88 of the Toronto Maple Leafs scores a first-period goal against Adin Hill #33 of the Vegas Golden Knights during their game at T-Mobile Arena on January 15, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Maple Leafs’ loss to Marner and Vegas could hurt Toronto in final tabulation

Vegas scored the next three goals, including the tying goal by Tomas Hertl with seven seconds left in the third period.

Marner had the primary assist on both of Dorofeyev’s goals.

Once Jack Eichel scored in overtime, it marked just the third time in Golden Knights history that they won a game when they faced a multi-goal deficit in the final 10 minutes of regulation.

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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