The Maple Leafs sealed their second straight win on Saturday, March 23rd when they played against the Edmonton Oilers at the Scotiabank Arena. It was a tough loss for the Oilers, but a fine 6-3 victory for Toronto. Both Bobby McMann and Pontus Holmberg scored twice for the Maple Leafs, and Auston Matthews recorded his 58th league-leading goal when he struck the empty net.
Oilers lineup against the Maple Leafs:
Draisaitl – McDavid – Hyman
McLeod – Nugent-Hopkins – Foegele
Kane – Henrique – Perry
Janmark – Carrick – Brown
Ryan
Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Desharnais
Kulak – Ceci
Stecher
Skinner
Pickard
Maple Leafs lineup against the Oilers:
Knies – Matthews – Domi
McMann – Tavares – Nylander
Dewar – Kampf – Gregor
Robertson – Holmberg – Reaves
Rielly – McCabe
Benoit – Timmins
Edmundson – Liljegren
Samsonov
Jones
Opening the scoring early into the first 20 at 15:43, Bobby McMann scored his 12th goal of the season one-timing a pass from John Tavares, who had been behind the net, at the top of the crease. William Nylander made it 2-0 late into the period at 1:46 on the power play when he redirected a shot from Timothy Liljegren that had been from the left point, going in off his skate at the left post.
Pontus Holmberg pushed it to 3-0 at 11:58 of the second period when he tapped in Max Domi’s centering pass in front after Auston Matthews retrieved the puck along the end boards from Evan Bouchard. At 8:56, Holmberg went for his second of the game and his sixth of the season to extend Toronto’s lead to 4-0. Bobby McMann sent a cross-crease pass to Holmberg on a 3-on-1 rush, who put it in Edmonton’s net. McMann gave the Maple Leafs a 5-0 lead with 4:14 remaining in the middle frame when he received a pass from William Nylander and then shot glove side past Stuart Skinner from the right circle.
Zach Hyman scored the first goal for Edmonton to finally get them up on the board at 15:01 of the final frame. Hyman redirected a pass from Connor McDavid on the power play, sending it between Ilya Samsonov’s pads. At 11:28, Corey Perry made it 5-2 with another power-play goal when he tapped in a cross-crease pass at the right post from Evander Kane. Cutting it 5-3 at 3:29, Leon Draisaitl put in his 36th of the season and his fourth goal in the past five games off a pass from McDavid with a one-timer. With 13 seconds remaining, Auston Matthews scored his 58th goal of the season into the empty net for the 6-3 final.
Bobby McMann on the way the team played and the Oilers: “I think we came out with an attitude that we know we’re a better team and we want to dictate the play from the start, and I think we did that. I’m proud of us for that,” – “They have some skilled players and they pushed back a little bit, but we took it to them enough that it didn’t matter.”
Jake McCabe on the game against the Oilers: “I thought our group was engaged right off the bat… we all kind of carried it through, all 20 guys in the lineup tonight. Just intense and the urgency was high – it was just a really good effort,” – “I think obviously they’re a team that thrives on time and space. When you try to take that away from them and try to frustrate them, I think that’s what we did really well in the first couple of periods. We took advantage when we got our looks, we buried, put them on their heels, and just kind of kept moving.”
Notes:
– Bobby McMann also recorded an assist aside from both goals, Auston Matthews also recorded an assist, and William Nylander extended his point streak to five games.
Nylander has become the first player this season to have three goal streaks of at least five games. He currently has five goals in his streak right now.
– Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves for Toronto before having to leave due to an apparent lower-body injury when he stretched across the net. Martin Jones took Samsonov’s place in the net, making five saves in relief.
– During a four-game point streak, John Tavares has recorded 10 points (three goals, seven assists)
– Connor McDavid recorded three assists, and Zach Hyman recorded his 49th goal of the season.
McDavid’s three assists came in the third period, marking the eighth time in his NHL career that he has recorded three in one period.
– Stuart Skinner allowed five goals on 23, then was replaced by Calvin Pickard, who made five saves for Edmonton.
