Toronto Maple Leafs manhandle Arizona Coyotes 4-1

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Toronto Maple Leafs easily manhandle Arizona Coyotes 4-1. Here is the game summary.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2016

GAME SUMMARY         |           EVENT SUMMARY        |           FACEOFF SUMMARY

ON THE SCORESHEET

Connor Brown opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs at 3:04 of the first period and now has goals (2) in his last two games. Brown has goals (2) in consecutive games for the first time in his NHL career.

Leo Komarov extended the Maple Leafs lead to 2-0 with a redirected goal on the power play at 0:43 of the second period. Komarov added a second goal at 6:26 of the third period, which made the score 3-1 in favour of Toronto. Komarov’s second goal tied his single-game high, making tonight the sixth two-goal game of his NHL career. The Maple Leafs are 4-0-0 when Komarov scores this season.

William Nylander made it 4-1 for the Maple Leafs at 11:31 of the third period. Five of Nylander’s seven goals this season have come on the road.

Auston Matthews registered the primary assist on Brown’s first period goal. Matthews has 13 points (10 goals, 3 assists) in his last 13 games.

Jake Gardiner picked up the primary assist on Komarov’s second period goal. Gardiner now has eight points (2 goals, 6 assists) in his last eight games.

Connor Brown had an assist in the second period of tonight’s game. The assist gave Brown his fourth career NHL multi-point game.

Morgan Rielly registered the primary assist on Nylander’s third period goal. Rielly leads all Maple Leafs defencemen in assists (15).

Frederik Gauthier picked up an assist in the third period of tonight’s game. Gauthier has points (1-1-2) in two consecutive games.

Frederik Andersen stopped 30 Coyotes shots in tonight’s game. The Maple Leafs are 7-0-1 when Andersen makes 30-39 saves in a game.

SHOTS FIRED

The Maple Leafs outshot the Coyotes by a 32-31 margin.

Toronto outshot Arizona 16-8 in the second period and 9-7 in the third period. The Coyotes had a 16-7 edge in shots in the first period.

Connor Brown, Nazem Kadri and Mitch Marner each registered four shots.

Connor Carrick, Nazem Kadri and Mitch Marner each registered seven shot attempts.

ROAD SCHOLARS

The Maple Leafs are 5-6-5 on the road this season and 1-5-1 in the second leg of back-to-backs.

Toronto’s all-time record is 36-50-8-2 in 96 games against the Coyotes franchise and 15-25-6-0 in 46 games played on the road.

Toronto is 6-6-5 against the Western Conference this season and 4-3-3 against the Pacific Division.

The Maple Leafs return to action on the road after the Christmas break on Dec. 28 at Florida.

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

OF NOTE…

The Maple Leafs have scored at least one goal in nine consecutive periods.

The Maple Leafs have scored 35 first period goals this season, which is the most in the NHL.

Toronto has scored the first goal in their last three games and in five of their last six games. The Maple Leafs are 12-4-5 when scoring first this season.

The Maple Leafs are now 9-1-4 when leading after one period and 12-1-5 when leading after two periods.

Toronto has a 5-8-5 record when outshooting their opponents.

Maple Leafs rookies combined for six points (2 goals, 4 assists) in tonight’s game. Toronto’s rookies had combined for 111 points (43 goals, 68 assists) in the Maple Leafs’ previous 32 games.

The Maple Leafs have successfully killed off 10 consecutive penalties over their last two games.

UPCOMING GAMES:

Wednesday, Dec. 28 at Florida Panthers, 7:00 p.m. (Sportsnet, TSN 1050)

Thursday, Dec. 29 at Tampa Bay Lightning, 7:30 p.m. (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)

Sunday, Jan. 1 vs. Detroit Red Wings, 3:00 p.m. (Sportsnet, FAN 590)*

Tuesday, Jan. 3 at Washington Capitals, 7:00 p.m. (TSN 4, TSN 1050)

Friday, Jan. 6 at New Jersey Devils, 7:30 pm. (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)

*2017 NHL Centennial Classic™

POSTGAME QUOTES:

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

On winning the second leg of a back-to-back for the first time this season:

Obviously we haven’t been able to do it so it’s a positive for us. I thought our guys did a good job, [Andersen] did a good job, our special teams were really good. We’re a little short-staffed but our guys dug in. I thought Gauthier had a real strong game for us.

On the team’s growing confidence on the road:

I just think for a long time it has been [growing]. We’re playing better defensively and even our turnover at the end of the second, those are little things we’ve got to learn not to do. We’re getting better and the wins happen when you do good things.

On how Matthews handled his return to his hometown:

I thought he was good. He struggled in the faceoff circle in the first but really got going after that. It’s got to be a big deal for him and his family – he should really enjoy today. It’s not very often anybody is treated like this or a city feels like they do about him. He should enjoy that, enjoy tonight, enjoy Christmas with his family.

FREDERIK ANDERSEN (30 SAVES, WIN)

On winning the second leg of a back-to-back:

I think it’s good. We always want to be able to get points in the second leg of a back-to-back because you’ve got to play a lot of them. You can’t afford to just think it’s a game you can throw away. You want to come out and dictate the play. We maybe didn’t play the best first but we got out 1-0 and that’s good on the road. We scored on our chance there and took it from there.

On the confidence level of the team at the break:

I think we’re working on getting more points and we’re in a pretty good spot now. We can enjoy a few days here and get ready for the next little bit before New Year’s.

LEO KOMAROV (2 GOALS, 15:18 TOI)

On having a two-goal game 366 days after his last two-goal game:

It was just bouncing my way today. I think we’re happy. We got four points in two days here so we’re just going to have a good holiday and enjoy a couple of days.

On winning both legs of the back-to-back:

I think we’re doing better every day and we really needed this win. It’s a lot of confidence and I think we’re doing really good this year so far. It’s good for us.

On the team’s confidence level heading into the holiday:

I think it’s good. We’ve got a lot of young guys, they enjoy playing here and they play really good. It’s great for us.

AUSTON MATTHEWS (1 ASSIST, 4 BLOCKED SHOTS)

On playing against his hometown team:

It was special. Like I said earlier – today, coming home and playing in front of the home crowd, playing where I grew up, it’s definitely a special moment. To get the two points here and to win definitely puts the cherry on top.

On taking the opening faceoff vs. Shane Doan:

I saw him come up, it happened pretty quick. It’s kind of that part of the game that makes it pretty special. Obviously he got his 400th goal tonight playing in his 1,500th game. That’s a pretty unbelievable accomplishment for him. I’m happy for him, but I’m happy that we got the win as well.

On his line’s chemistry tonight:

Connor [Brown] is pretty similar to [William Nylander]. They’re both different players but they make plays all over the ice. It’s always fun playing with guys like that. Obviously Hyman, we’ve had him all year there on the left wing, he’s a worker, he gets in front, he creates space. We’ve been gelling really well lately. Brown has goals in back-to-back games and he’s really coming on now so hopefully we’ll have a nice break here, a couple of good games in Florida and keep it rolling.

On what he’s learning from his experiences this season:

Just to embrace it, have fun with it, don’t put too much pressure on myself. Coming into this kind of game, don’t too much out there and just play my game and I think we did that tonight. We had a contribution from all four lines, all four lines played solid tonight. We picked it up there in the second and third and we were able to shut them down and shut them out there in the third.