TORONTO -- Randy Carlyle is approaching the second anniversary of his firing as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He came back Monday night in his second stint as coach of the Anaheim Ducks and left as a winner.

Cam Fowler drilled a one-timer for his ninth goal of the season on a power play in the third period that ended a tie and proved to be the difference in the Ducks' 3-2 victory over the Maple Leafs.

But Carlyle, who coached in Toronto for 188 games before he was let go in January 2015, deflected the attention to the goal scorers -- Fowler, Nick Ritchie and Ryan Getzlaf -- and goaltender John Gibson, who made some big saves among the 33 shots that he handled.

"From a personal standpoint, yeah, it's nice, but the bottom line is our hockey club needed the win more than I needed the win," Carlyle said. "John Gibson was big in the nets and Cam Fowler scored the big power play-goal.

"We battled to get back into the game and battled to get the lead in the third period. Nick Ritchie got us a goal, so it was nice to see that it was spread around, but more important it's two points in the standings."

Fowler's goal came less than two minutes after Toronto had tied the score at 2 on a goal by Nazem Kadri off a deflection and came off a faceoff, three seconds after Toronto's Zach Hyman took a roughing penalty.

"It was an important night for us, sometimes you need your power play to keep you in the game when you're not getting many chances five-on-five," Fowler said. "I was happy to see that one go in in the third."

Auston Matthews had the other goal for Toronto (12-12-7) and Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen stopped 25 shots.

"I thought (Matthews) was great," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought he was our best player."

Gibson not only kept the Ducks (17-11-5) in the game early, but he helped them keep the lead late in the game.

"I think we hung him out to dry a little bit in the first period," Carlyle said. "I think we allowed two breakaways or partial breakaways. There were two opportunities when they were alone in front of the net ... late in the game they had a couple of I would say 10-bell chances from the high slot area and his glove stops were very impressive."

Gibson said, "We knew we had to have a good game. I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure I was there for them and it worked out."

Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa left the ice under his own power and went to the dressing room after being hit in the face with a deflected puck and falling to the ice at 2:44 of the second period. Carlyle said he had a swollen lip and nothing more and was kept out of the rest of the game as a precaution.

The Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead at 7:27 of the second period when Matthews scored his 15th goal of the season. He used his stick to redirect a shot by Nikita Zaitsev.

"It's just something you see on the ice," Matthews said. "The puck was going a little wide so I tried to get a stick on it and get it to the net. That's a big thing with our team, we want our D to get pucks through. Zaitsev did a good job getting it there."

Getzlaf scored his fourth goal of the season on a power play at 18:01 of the second period when his shot from the left point was deflected off two Maple Leafs defensemen before going into the net. Zaitsev was serving a roughing penalty.

"We don't have enough discipline," Babcock said. "The bottom line is you've got to have better discipline or you hurt yourself. The last two games, guys sat on the bench because we took too many penalties.

"Any way you look at it, that affected tonight's game. We've got to have more discipline and that comes with your structure, that comes with your referee, that comes with everything. Our players should have more discipline than we had tonight if we want to win."

Anaheim took a 2-1 lead at 1:21 of the third period on Ritchie’s eighth goal of the season on a pass from behind the net by Ondrej Kase.

The Maple Leafs tied the score at 2 at 11:42 of the third period on the 11th goal of the season by Kadri on a deflection of a shot by Matt Hunwick.

NOTES: Toronto recalled C Frederik Gauthier from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League on Monday and placed D Martin Marincin (lower-body injury) on injured reserve. Gauthier, 21, has one goal and three assists in 16 games with the Marlies. ... Maple Leafs LW Josh Leivo and Gauthier made their NHL season debuts Monday with C Tyler Bozak (lower-body injury) and RW Ben Smith (upper-body injury) out. ... Toronto G Frederik Andersen was 77-26-12 in 125 regular-season games with the Ducks before being traded to the Maple Leafs on June 20. ... Anaheim LW Andrew Cogliano played in his 737th straight game, tied for the fifth longest streak in NHL history. …Former Maple Leafs G Jonathan Bernier did not start against his former team Monday and is expected to play in his hometown against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday in the fifth game of Anaheim’s six-game trip. ... The Maple Leafs ended a five-game homestand Monday and will open a four-game trip Thursday against the Colorado Avalanche.