- Auston Matthews has a point in all eight road games this season after scoring his 11th goal Saturday
- The Maple Leafs beat the Canucks 4-2 as Vancouver fell to 1-11-1 in its past 13 games
- Read below for how the Leafs took over the second period in Vancouver
Auston Matthews has a point in every road game this season.
The Maple Leafs captain scored his 11th goal Saturday in a 4-2 win over the Canucks in Vancouver, stretching his season-opening road point streak to eight games. He has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) over that run.
Matthews put Toronto ahead 2-1 at 3:47 of the second period. Darren Raddysh had his stick up for a one-timer from above the dot, then passed it back down to Matthews, who snapped a one-touch shot along the ice and under the pads of Canucks goalie Leevi Merilainen.
Matthews talked about getting the puck back from Raddysh. “I just thought I’d throw it at the net and see what happens,” he said. “Really nice heads up play by him to kind of get the goalie moving, and I just tried to sneak it in.”
Catch the goal:
William Nylander opened the scoring 1:23 into the game with a breakaway goal, cutting across the crease and chipping a backhand over Merilainen’s glove. He added an assist later on.
Watch Nylander’s goal:
Brock Boeser tied it 1-1 for Vancouver on a power-play breakaway. Toronto then killed off a 5-on-3 power play of its own that Merilainen stretched out, including a backdoor stop on rookie Gavin McKenna.
The second period belonged to Toronto. The Leafs outshot Vancouver 13-6 and Zack MacEwen made it 3-1 at 12:34 when his point shot bounced off Merilainen’s glove and in.
Head coach Jim Hiller explained what changed in that period. “If you forecheck, you give yourself a chance and I thought we did that as well as we’ve done it all year in the second,” Hiller said.
Max Sasson cut it to 3-2 at 9:27 of the third, but Teddy Blueger sealed it with an empty-netter at 18:24 off a 2-on-1 feed from Nylander. The play started when Anthony Stolarz shot for the empty net himself and the puck bounced off a Canucks player right to Nylander.
Stolarz made 26 saves and improved to 5-1-0. Chris Tanev returned after missing nine games with an upper-body injury, and Dakota Joshua played his season debut.
Toronto moved to 8-6-2 and finished the road trip 2-2-0. The Canucks are 3-12-1 and have won once in their past 13 games.
