Article content

LONDON — Andrew Nielsen scored with 1:26 to play as the Toronto Maple Leafs spoiled the Canadiens’ comeback bid and posted a 4-3 win in an NHL rookie tournament Saturday night at Budweiser Gardens.

“I’ll take the blame for that one,” said goaltender Zach Fucale, who allowed the puck to slip in between his left arm and his body.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Leafs beat Canadiens rookies on a late goal Back to video

“The guys showed a lot of character to come back and I made the mistake,” Fucale added. “There were some good things and there are some things I have to work on.”

To give Fucale his due, Nielsen wasn’t under any pressure as he unloaded from 35 feet out. That was the case for much of the night as Martin Lapointe rested his top three defencemen and the Leafs outshot the Canadiens 34-23.

Lapointe did dress the No. 1 line of Nikita Scherbak, Michael McCarron and Artturi Lehkonen and that was the reason Montreal rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third period.

McCarron was the best player on the ice and it was his power-play goal at 11:13 of the third period that brought the Canadiens even at 3-3.