Maple Leafs earn mind-blowing comeback win over Penguins to win 4-3

The Toronto Maple Leafs appeared lifeless. They were skating around with any desire to do anything but lay down and lose a hockey game, but then in a matter of minutes they were brought back and ended up earning one of the most exciting comeback wins in recent memory for this team.

Up 3-0, the Penguins were slated to walk away from Monday night's game in the Scotiabank Arena with an easy two points as they continue their season start of playing better than virtually everyone expected. Sidney Crosby and his pals like rookie Ben Kindel were willing an embarrassing loss for the Maple Leafs from not a whole lot, and it was depressing to watch.

But thankfully, once the Leafs started to smell blood, they pushed back harder than ever and scored four unanswered goals in the third period to end up earning the 4-3 win in regulation; stealing the win from the Penguins.

Leafs score three goals four minutes to earn comeback win

It all started with none other than Erik Karlsson reviving some of his former Ottawa Senators past to put a hurt on the Leafs and wiring an absolute laser past Anthony Stolarz to open the scoring. Assisted by an unreal pass from Crosby, Karlsson had ample time to figure out his shot and made Toronto pay.

Shortly after, rookie Kindel was able to score his fourth goal of the season before the first period ended -- a very awkward high-stick goal that surely more people would've been upset about if the Leafs were actually playing well. And then roughly halfway through the second period, Kindel got his fifth of the season on the power play.

Maybe the Penguins are developing the next player that will be a pain in the side of Leafs fans for the next decade, since Kindel looked very very solid for an 18-year-old forward that isn't physically dominant.

After that, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Leafs will pack up and mentally leave the arena but somehow, vintage Auston Matthews decided to show up.

Matthews taking it on the blue line, and then racing past flat-footed defenders to score a goal while making it look incredibly easy, is something that we saw so often during his 69-goal campaign just two years ago. But it's been a while since that player has appeared on the ice and we caught a glimpse on Monday night.

That sparked the comeback. Less than 90 seconds later, Nylander gets the puck on his backhand off a couple missed chances and tidily puts it away to breathe even more life into this team. Suddenly, they were down by just a goal with ample time to at least tie it.

It was a display of pure puck skill that just pushed the Leafs to possibly their limit. All it took was not even two whole minutes to make the Penguins really doubt that they can win this game despite dominating for more than the first two periods.

Just leave it to Nylander, again, to score the game-tying goal on a long-distance one-timer that sends Scotiabank Arena into a frenzy. From making Blue Jays chants ironically as the Leafs looked worse than they ever have all season long, to leading a mind-bending comeback and giving themselves an opportunity to rack up a couple points.

It's not even just Nylander but the entire team's effort on this goal that makes it special and an actually linking of offensive thoughts that gives us hope for the next week or so.

And then leave it to Bobby McMann to score an extremely gritty and dirty goal for the Leafs to win the game with just several minutes on the clock. Of course after those goals, it was this one that finished the job.

To go from a team that was losing the shot battle 25-8 after two periods, to then battle back and cash in on some skilled plays -- making it an even 12-12 shots on goal in the third period between the two teams -- felt like a miracle.

For so many times this season, the Leafs would just whimper and accept the loss but maybe something is changing and maybe we're getting to see some of the top-end players actually pull off their magic. Maybe, we'll talk about how this game was the turning point of the season.