Watch Highlights as Toronto Maple Leafs hammer Dallas Stars

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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GAME SUMMARY         |           EVENT SUMMARY        |           FACEOFF SUMMARY

ON THE SCORESHEET

–       Mitch Marner opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs at 9:40 of the first period and later picked up the secondary assist on Auston Matthews’ second period power play goal, the primary assist on John Tavares’ second period power play goal and the primary assist on Tavares’ third period goal. Marner has points (2-6-8) in three consecutive games. His first period goal marked the first time this season Toronto has scored the first goal of the game. Marner has multiple points in three consecutive games and tied his career-high for assists in a game (3) tonight.

–       Auston Matthews scored Toronto’s second goal of the night at 18:58 of the first period and later added the third Maple Leafs goal of the night on the power play at 11:59 of the second period. Matthews has goals (7) and points (7-3-10) in four consecutive games. According to NHL Stats, Matthews’ first period goal made him the sixth player in franchise history to score goal in each of the franchise’s first four games of the season.

–       Ron Hainsey scored the fourth Maple Leafs goal of the night at 16:00 of the second period and later had the secondary assist on Connor Brown’s empty net goal. Hainsey’s goal was his first point of the season. He had three multi-point games in 2017-18.

–       John Tavares scored Toronto’s fifth goal of the night on the power play at 17:00 of the second period and later scored the sixth Maple Leaf goal of the game at 4:55 of the third period. Tavares has goals (5) in two consecutive games and two consecutive multi-goal games.

–       Connor Brown scored an empty net goal for the Maple Leafs, the team’s seventh goal of the game, at 16:40 of the third period. Brown scored 14 goals in 82 games during the 2017-18 season.

–       Kasperi Kapanen registered the primary assist on Matthews’ first period goal and the primary assist on Hainsey’s second period goal. Kapanen has assists (3) and points (1-3-4) in two consecutive games. With two assists tonight, Kapanen established a new career-high for assists in a game (2) and tied his career-high for points in a game (2).

–       Morgan Rielly picked up the secondary assist on Matthews’ first period goal, the primary assist on Matthews’ second period power play goal, the secondary assist on Tavares’ second period power play goal and the primary assist on Brown’s empty net goal. With four assists, Rielly established a new career-high for assists in a game (4) and tied his career high for points in a game (4) established on Nov. 11, 2016 vs. Philadelphia. Rielly has assists (8) and points (2-8-10) in four consecutive games. His eight assists are the most by a Maple Leafs defenceman through the team’s first four games of a season, surpassing the previous high of seven assists through four games jointly held by Kent Douglas (1964-65) and Borje Salming (1977-78), per NHL Stats.

–       Par Lindholm registered the secondary assist on Ron Hainsey’s second period goal. The assist is Lindholm’s first career NHL point.

–       Nikita Zaitsev picked up the secondary assist on Tavares’ third period goal. Zaitsev’s assist is his first point of the season. He has registered 12 (2 goals, 10 assists) of his 50 career points in the month of October.

–       Frederik Andersen stopped 30 shots to earn tonight’s win. Tonight’s victory is Andersen’s 150th career NHL win.

SHOTS FIRED

–       The Stars had a 34-30 lead in shots on goal in all situations and a 33-26 edge in shots on goal at 5-on-5.

–       Toronto had a 66-56 lead in shot attempts in all situations and a 59-54 lead in shot attempts at 5-on-5.

–       Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews had a team-high four shots on goal.

–       Nazem Kadri led the Maple Leafs with eight shot attempts.

SHOTS ON GOAL

SHOT ATTEMPTS

 ON THE ROAD AGAIN

–       The Maple Leafs are 2-0-0 on the road this season.

–       Toronto’s all-time record is 96-90-28-1 in 215 games between the clubs and 41-53-11-1 in 106 games on the road.

–       Toronto is 2-0-0 against the Western Conference this season and 2-0-0 against the Central Division.

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

 RECORD WHEN…

–          The Maple Leafs were 0-for-1 on the penalty kill and 2-for-3 on the power play tonight. Toronto is 2-0-0 when allowing a power play goal this season and 1-0-0 when scoring multiple power play goals.

–          Toronto is 1-0-0 when scoring the first goal of the game.

–          The Maple Leafs are 1-0-0 when leading after one period and 2-0-0 when leading after two periods.

–          Toronto has a 2-0-0 record when outshot by their opponent.

–          The Maple Leafs are 1-0-0 in Tuesday games.

OF NOTE…

–          Toronto’s line of Tyler Ennis, Frederik Gauthier and Josh Leivo did not start a 5-on-5 shift in the offensive zone.

–          Auston Matthews won 75 percent (12 won, 4 lost) of his faceoffs when matched up with Dallas centre Radek Faksa.

–          Ron Hainsey and Morgan Rielly were each on the ice for a team-high 26 Toronto shot attempts-for at 5-on-5. Hainsey had a 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 55.3 percent (26 for, 21 against), while Rielly had a 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 56.5 percent (26 for, 20 against).

UPCOMING GAMES:

–       Thursday, October 11, 7:30 p.m., at Detroit Red Wings (TSN4, TSN 1050)

–       Saturday, October 13, 7:00 p.m., at Washington Capitals (Hockey Night in Canada, TSN 1050)

–       Monday, October 15, 7:30 p.m., vs. Los Angeles Kings (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)

–       Thursday, October 18, 7:00 p.m., vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (TSN4, TSN 1050)

–       Saturday, October 20, 7:00 p.m., vs. St. Louis Blues (Hockey Night in Canada, FAN 590)

POSTGAME QUOTES:

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

On tonight’s win:

Two points. I thought our team competed real hard at the start especially and I thought we had a pretty solid third period. A good night for our team. Obviously, both power plays were real, real dangerous, we had to be disciplined, but a good win for our team.

On the team locking the game down in the third period:

I thought we did, but I liked our game throughout much more than I have liked our other games. We had good intensity, good battle, everybody was focused, we had good detail in our game. I liked our game.

On play of the Ennis-Gauthier-Leivo line:

I thought they were real good, especially in the third period. They just played in the O-zone, rolled around. [Gauthier] is a big body, good defensively, but I thought Leivo and Ennis were real good and on the puck and were quick and played heavy. Good for those guys.

On what Hyman and Kapanen brought to their lines tonight:

Yeah, I mean, different and Kappy has done it two nights in a row. I’m hoping it’s going to be three and then four and then be every night, but they both beat out icings tonight. Hyms beats out an icing – they didn’t give him an assist, but he got an assist on that play there when Tavares scores to put us up two, basically the game winner. Those are plays that, I mean, you’ve got to have elite legs, but you’ve got to be strong as an ox. Their determination was great. If Kappy can keep going, obviously it’s a real good sign for us.

MITCH MARNER (1 GOAL, 3 ASSISTS)

On tonight’s strong start and his lines play:

Yeah, we haven’t gotten off to hot starts, that was the main focus tonight. We know this team at home the last two games was on fire in the start so we wanted to come out pushing. I thought all four lines came tonight and played. Our power play came to play as well. We were moving the puck quick and getting chances at the net. Obviously, we talked about just getting that puck to the net and banging it off of people and luckily enough it happened a couple times tonight. I think with our line tonight we were just moving the puck well and finding where each other like to go. I think we’ve just got to keep going forward here and making sure we’re not getting too far ahead of ourselves and playing as a line.

On Matthews’ start to the season:

I don’t think it really surprises too many people. His shot is deadly. He’s always putting himself in a position to shoot the puck. He’s always moving out there and getting in open space. I think that line right now is working really well together. They’re moving the puck and getting open for each other. We have four extremely fast lines and I think the last two games we’ve really worked that.

AUSTON MATTHEWS (2 GOALS)

On tonight’s powerplay success:

Yeah, I think when we move the puck well and kind of keep things, for the most part, simple, we have a lot of talent and skill out there and we can find each other. We have different weapons out there, like you said, that can score so it makes it tough on the opposing team’s penalty kill.

On the pass he received from Kapanen on his first goal:

I was expecting it so it was a nice play by him to get that puck and I just tried to slide in that spot for him to get it to me. Really nice play by him and then, obviously, Patty [Marleau] at the net and just taking away the goalie’s eyes makes it a little easier for the puck to get through.

On the importance of getting the game’s first goal:

I don’t think we’ve started too well our first three games so looking at it I think we were getting outshot every game in the first 10 minutes so we made it a big point in this locker room to come out strong. This team plays well at home and, like you said, they’ve got off to a hot start, they’ve got a lot of speed and skill so when we come out and start the way we did it’s going to be tough for teams to respond.

MORGAN RIELLY (4 ASSISTS)

On tonight’s powerplay success:

Yeah, I think that’s important, I think that’s our job. When we get opportunities like that we have to make them count. Some big goals there, timely point in the game, so it’s important we continue to build off that because the powerplay is not a time to take your foot off the gas. That’s when you have to be ready to go and you have to make plays. We were able to do that tonight and that helped in the win.

On locking down the lead in the third period:

Yeah, that was a good sign for us that we were able to do that. Obviously, giving one up wasn’t ideal but I thought we answered well and I thought we played well. We made it tough for them to get into our zone and then when they did we were able to make some breakouts. When the goalie is playing well and we’re able to clog it up a little bit when we have the lead, it helps.

On Matthews’ first four games:

He’s been incredible. I think he talked about how much he worked on his shot, but the way he can skate and the way he can play, it’s just really fun to watch.

JOHN TAVARES (2 GOALS)

On the team’s hot offensive start living up to expectations:

I don’t think we try to get caught up in all that. I think we know we’ve got talent and we do the right things, we compete, play hard and develop an identity within our group. I think we believe in creating opportunities and in the skillsets we have and just going from there. We’ve done some good things to execute offensively, but no question we’d like to keep a few more out of our net. It’s always nice to get off to that start the way we have, but we know it’s a long season and there’s always ebbs and flows. You’ve just got to stick with it and continue to build and find ways to create chances and contribute.

On tonight’s powerplay success:

I think what I like about the power play is we’re not trying to make any highlight reel plays. I think we’re just sticking with our structure and what we believe is going to work for us and then trying to take what’s been given and not try to force anything. I think when you do that, time after time, the odds tend to be in your favor. Especially when we’ve got the type of guys we’ve got on the ice. Just keep taking what’s given and continue to work at it and understand who we’re going up against on a nightly basis, what tendencies we face and make adjustments when we need to.