Toronto Maple Leafs Easily Beat Florida Panthers 6-1

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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GAME SUMMARY         |           EVENT SUMMARY        |           FACEOFF SUMMARY

ON THE SCORESHEET

–       Auston Matthews opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs with a power play goal at 18:17 of the first period and later scored the second Toronto goal of the game at 3:49 of the second period before picking up the primary assist on John Tavares’ third period power play goal and the primary assist on Mitch Marner’s third period goal. Matthews has goals (3) and points (3-3-6) in three consecutive games. He has 14 points (7 goals, 7 assists) in nine home games this season. Tonight’s game is Matthews’ seventh multi-goal game and 12th multi-point game of the season. His four points tie his career high for points in a game.

–       Nazem Kadri scored the third Maple Leafs goal of the night at 11:14 of the second period and later picked up the secondary assist on John Tavares’ third period power play goal. Kadri has assists (5) and points (1-5-6) in three consecutive games. He has 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists) in 26 career games against the Panthers.

 –       John Tavares scored Toronto’s fourth goal of the night on the power play at 2:38 of the third period before adding the fifth Maple Leafs goal of the night at 5:41 of the third period. Tavares has goals (4) and points (4-1-5) in three consecutive games. Tonight’s game is his fourth multi-goal and ninth multi-point game of the season.

–       Mitch Marner registered the primary assist on Matthews’ first period goal and later had the primary assist on Tavares’ second third period goal before scoring Toronto’s sixth goal of the game on the power play at 15:14 of the third period. Marner leads the NHL in primary assists with 30. He has 14 points (4 goals, 10 assists) in 11 games against Atlantic Division opponents in 2018-19. Tonight’s game is his 12th multi-assist game of the season and 15th multi-point game of the season. He has goals (4) and points (4-2-6) in three consecutive games.

–       Morgan Rielly picked up the secondary assist on Matthews’ first period goal and later had the primary assist on Matthews’ second period goal before picking up the secondary assist on Kadri’s second period goal and the secondary assist on Marner’s third period goal. Rielly has points (1-6-7) in three consecutive games. He leads the Maple Leafs in power play points (1-13-14). Tonight’s game is Rielly’s fourth multi-assist and ninth multi-point game of the season. His four assists tie his career-high for assists in a game set on October 9, 2018 at Dallas and mark the third time in his career he has recorded a career-high four points.

–       Kasperi Kapanen picked up the secondary assist on Matthews’ second period goal. Kapanen has five points (1 goal, 4 assists) over his last five games. Toronto is 12-3-1 this season when Kapanen registers a point.

–       Connor Brown registered the primary assist on Kadri’s second period goal. Brown has assists (4) in two consecutive games. His 12 points (2 goals, 10 assists) in 13 career games against Florida are his most points against a single opponent.

–       Martin Marincin picked up the secondary assist on Tavares’ second third period goal. The assist is Marincin’s first point of the season.

–       Frederik Andersen stopped 25 shots to earn his 19th victory of the season.

SHOTS ON GOAL (5-on-5 in brackets)

SHOT ATTEMPTS (5-on-5 in brackets)

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

–       The Maple Leafs are 10-5-1 at home this season.

–       Toronto’s all-time record is 42-32-7-5 in 86 games against the Panthers and 24-15-2-1 in 42 games played at home.

–       Toronto is 12-7-2 against the Eastern Conference this season and 5-4-2 against the Atlantic Division.

–       Tonight’s attendance is 19,329.

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

RECORD WHEN…

–       The Maple Leafs were 2-for-3 on the penalty kill and 3-for-3 on the power play tonight. Toronto is 9-5-0 when allowing one power play goal this season and 5-0-0 when scoring multiple power play goals.

–       Toronto is 17-1-1 when scoring the first goal of the game.

–       The Maple Leafs are 15-0-0 when leading after one period and 18-0-0 when leading after two periods.

–          Toronto is 1-2-0 when even in shots with their opponent.

–          The Maple Leafs are 3-3-1 in Thursday games.

OF NOTE…

 –          At 7:38 of the second period in tonight’s game, video review determined that Toronto’s Nazem Kadri kicked the puck into the Florida net. According to Rule 49.2 “A goal cannot be scored by an attacking player who kicks a puck that deflects into the net off any player, goalkeeper or official.” No goal Toronto.

–          Jake Gardiner was on the ice for a team-high in Toronto shot attempts-for at 5-on-5 (26). Gardiner had a 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 59.1 (26 for, 18 against).

–          Zach Hyman (ankle) did not dress for tonight’s game. He will be out a minimum three weeks.

–          Igor Ozhiganov (illness) did not dress for tonight’s game.

–          John Tavares was 5-for-5 (100%) in the faceoff circle when matched up against Florida centre Juho Lammikko.

UPCOMING GAMES:

–       Saturday, December 22, 7:00 p.m., vs. New York Rangers (Hockey Night in Canada, TSN 1050)

–       Sunday, December 23, 7:30 p.m., vs. Detroit Red Wings (Sportsnet, FAN 590)

–       Friday, December 28, 7:00 p.m., at Columbus Blue Jackets (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)

–       Saturday, December 29, 7:00 p.m., vs. New York Islanders (Hockey Night in Canada, FAN 590)

–       Thursday, January 3, 2:00 p.m., vs. Minnesota Wild (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)

POSTGAME QUOTES:

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

On the power play going 3-for-3 tonight:

I just thought things were going fine when we went into Tampa and the goalie made tons of saves and we hit some bars. We seemed to start pressing after that. Today we just did things right and executed and as soon as they got one they were going to get more. I thought our team worked hard tonight, I thought we started on time. We did things the way you should. That was good.

On the importance of precise passing to the offence:

Obviously, if you make good plays it’s hard to defend. For a while there we weren’t seeing it over moving it as we pressed. Once we got one it was obvious just the difference in the tempo of our power play than what it had been here in the last week.

On Hyman’s injury:

That’s obviously unfortunate. We didn’t know for sure. It’s Hyman so he didn’t complain about anything and he kept playing anyway. He got the slew foot there in Jersey and went into the boards, hurt his ankle, kept playing. We thought – he tried to go today and we thought he was playing today. Obviously, it’s like anything, you get opportunity for someone else. He’s a real important part of our team because he’s so heavy. We don’t have enough heavy guys and he’s one of those guys. So, that hurts us that way to be heavy in the offensive zone. Someone else gets an opportunity, someone else gets an opportunity on the penalty kill and we’ll end up being better for it.

On the importance of defending while scoring:

I think it’s the most important thing. In the end, you’re going to have to play real good defence to win. So, you’re going to have to be a heavy team that can play on the cycle and you’re going to have to be a team that can really defend if you want to have success. We’d like to become that team. We’ve got lots of young players here that are going to get better and continue to get better. We’ve got [Matthews] who looks like he’s starting to be in shape now and Willy [Nylander], as you can tell, is a ways away. As we get our group going we can become a really good team.

On getting goals from the centres:

I just think obviously we’re deep down the middle. I thought [Gauthier] did a good job today, too. We had four good lines. You want to be deep down the middle. To me, that’s a key part of a hockey team. You want to be deep in the back and real good in goal and that gives you a chance to have success.

On Rielly’s four points:

He’s a good player. We’ve talked about it before, he thinks he’s in Moose Jaw again now. He’s goes out there, he’s good, he’s having fun.

MITCH MARNER (1 GOAL, 2 ASSISTS)

 On tonight’s power play:

I think your power play was back to where we wanted it to be. We were moving the puck pretty quick and opening up seams. That’s the way we’ve got to be more. I think that’s why were successful on it tonight.

On his goal in the third period:

I mean I knew [Matthews] was going backdoor as well so I threw it there just for John or Mats and hoped one of them got it. Clearly it didn’t happen but it was funny seeing the fans reactions thinking so.

AUSTON MATTHEWS (2 GOALS, 2 ASSISTS)

On how to beat Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo:

I think you just need to get him moving side-to-side. He gets over. He made some really nice saves tonight. He’s a guy you get moving side-to-side, he covers a good amount of the net. He can obviously make those extended saves but, when you get him moving, I think it’s tough for all goalies to make saves like that.

On the play of Morgan Rielly:

He just looks really confident out there. I think he’s just doing his thing. He’s skating the puck, he’s been really good on the power play, he sees the ice well and he gets up on the play, even in the offensive zone. He’s been fun to watch and fun to play with all year. You want to continue to see that from him.

MORGAN RIELLY (4 ASSISTS)

On what led to tonight’s win:

Just good preparation, I think. We came out, we were ready, we skated well, had a few big saves early from Freddie [Andersen] and then we just kind of got rolling.

On if extra practice on the power play paid off tonight:

Yeah, I think so. We were dry there for a bit and when you go through tough slump like that, you’ve just got to work through it. That’s all it was. We worked on it a lot in practice and we felt good. It was just a matter of time so we were happy with it tonight.

JOHN TAVARES (2 GOALS)

 On tonight’s puck movement:

Well I think from start to finish a lot of areas of our game were pretty textbook tonight the way we played. I don’t think we gave them much momentum, much life. We played with it a lot, had good jump, moving the puck and retrieving a lot of pucks and getting to the net and, obviously, getting rewarded. A lot of things to like tonight. Feel good about it but we’ve got a tough weekend ahead so refocus and try and find ways to get better, but, for sure, we did a lot of good things tonight.

On tonight’s power play:

I don’t think there was any sense of panic just tried to fine tune, refocus, look at some things, get some practice time, some good video sessions, talk about it and sometimes you just get some better bounces and get rewarded. Overall, got some good results there and obviously, want to carry it forward.