The Maple Leafs largely defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena.
Leafs forward William Nylander extended his point streak to 15 games and tied the score at 2-2 early in the second period after showing plenty of patience before beating Thatcher Demko.
This is when things started to fall apart for the Canucks. Noah Gregor let Toronto take the lead and his team never looked back. Newcomer Bobby McMann collected two assists. Remember that it was he who took Ryan Reaves in Sheldon Keefe’s training.
Things started well for the Canucks, who returned to the locker room with a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play. JT Miller and Pius Suter then gave the red light.
Vancouver travels to Montreal to face the Canadian on Sunday at the Bell Centre.
The Senators win against the Flames
In the second match of the evening between two Canadian teams, the Ottawa Senators won 4-1 against the Calgary Flames, who were playing their second game in as many nights.
The support players did their best in this encounter, as Rourke Chartier and Travis Hamonic put the puck in the net in the third period, ending the Flames’ hopes of a comeback.
Drake Batherson also had a great game and got on the scoresheet twice. It was he who scored the winning goal for the Ottawa club. He was also an accomplice in Chartier’s network during the final stand.
Blake Coleman responded for Calgary. The defeat continued the setbacks of Jonathan Huberdeau, who finished his evening with two shots on goal and a playing time of 13 minutes and 28 seconds.
A fourth win in a row for the Penguins
After a difficult start to the season, the Pittsburgh Penguins finally seem to have found their way. In fact, they earned their fourth straight win by knocking off the Buffalo Sabers on Saturday night.
Evgeni Malkin is at the heart of his club’s success. Erik Karlsson (author of two goals in this game) not only received an assist for the first goal of the evening, but it was also the one who opened hostilities by beating Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen with a backhand shot behind the goal line.
Goaltender Tristan Jarry, who was often criticized this year, recorded his third shutout of the season with 36 saves.
Drew O’Connor was the Pens’ other scorer. The latter will try to win a fifth straight game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.