Toronto Maple Leafs easily beat Edmonton Oilers 4-2

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Toronto Maple Leafs play well and easily beat Edmonton Oilers 4-2

ON THE SCORESHEET

–    Auston Matthews opened the scoring for the Maple Leafs with a goal at 5:45 of the first period. Matthews has goals in three consecutive games.
–    James van Riemsdyk gave the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead at 2:49 of the second period with his 10th goal of the season. He has eight points in his last seven games.
–    Nazem Kadri scored his 10th goal of the season at 6:00 of the second period. Kadri’s goal extended his point streak to four games and his goal streak to three games.
–    Tonight marks the second straight game in which Nazem Kadri, Auston Matthews and James van Riemsdyk all scored a goal for the Maple Leafs. Kadri, Matthews and van Riemsdyk share the team lead with 10 goals this season.
–    Zach Hyman extended the Maple Leafs’ lead to 4-1 with a goal at 17:58 of the second period. Hyman has points in three consecutive games.
–    William Nylander registered his 10th assist of the season on Matthews’ first period goal. Nylander has assists in his last two games played.
–    Nikita Zaitsev picked up his ninth assist of the season in the first period. Zaitsev ranks fifth among NHL rookies in assists.
–    Tyler Bozak picked up his 11th assist of the season on van Riemsdyk’s second period goal. The Maple Leafs are now 7-0-0 when Bozak has an assist.
–    Mitch Marner registered his team-leading 12th assist of the season in the second period. The Maple Leafs are 9-0-2 when Marner records a point this year.
–    Leo Komarov earned his seventh assist of the season on Kadri’s second period goal. Komarov has assists in two consecutive games.

SHOTS FIRED
–    The Maple Leafs were outshot by the Oilers by a 29-23 margin.
–    Shots were 20-19 in favour of Edmonton at 5-on-5.
–    Zach Hyman led the Maple Leafs in shots (5).
–    Nikita Zaitsev led Toronto in shot attempts (8).

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
–    The Maple Leafs are now 2-5-4 on the road this season.
–    Toronto’s all-time record is 47-42-8-1 in 98 games against the Oilers and 20-25-6-1in 52 games played in Edmonton.
–    Prior to tonight, the Maple Leafs’ last win in Edmonton was Oct. 29, 2013 (4-0). 2013 was also the last year the Maple Leafs swept the season series against the Oilers.
–    The Maple Leafs are now 2-2-1 in the first leg of back-to-backs this season.
–    Toronto will play the second leg of their back-to-back tomorrow night in Calgary (Nov. 30).

OF NOTE…
–    The Maple Leafs are 7-1-2 when leading after one period and 9-1-4 when leading after two periods.
–    Toronto is 9-3-3 when scoring first.
–    The Maple Leafs are 7-0-4 when scoring four or more goals.
–    The Maple Leafs scored three goals in the second period – the seventh time they have scored at least three goals in one period this season.
–    Frederik Andersen made 28 saves in the win.
–    Tyler Bozak won a team-high 67 percent of his faceoffs tonight (8 won, 4 lost).
–    Nazem Kadri won 57 percent of his faceoffs and led the Maple Leafs in faceoff wins (13).
–    Auston Matthews recorded his first career NHL penalty, serving two minutes for hooking in the first period.
–    Roman Polak had a team-high in shorthanded TOI (6:44).
–    Morgan Rielly led Toronto in TOI (23:36).
–    Ben Smith led the Maple Leafs in blocked shots (5).
–    Nikita Soshnikov led the Maple Leafs in hits (4).
–    James van Riemsdyk led the Maple Leafs in power play TOI (3:31).

UPCOMING GAMES:
–    Wednesday, Nov. 30 at Calgary Flames, 8:30 p.m. (Sportsnet, FAN 590)
–    Saturday, Dec. 3 at Vancouver Canucks, 7:00 p.m. (Hockey Night in Canada, TSN 1050)
–    Wednesday, Dec. 7 vs. Minnesota Wild, 7:30 p.m. (Sportsnet, FAN 590)
–    Saturday, Dec. 10 at Boston Bruins, 7:00 p.m. (Hockey Night in Canada, TSN 1050)
–    Sunday, Dec. 11 vs. Colorado Avalanche, 7:00 p.m. (Sportsnet, FAN 590)

MIKE BABCOCK POSTGAME: NOVEMBER 29, 2016

On tonight’s performance:
It was a good win for our team. Obviously we were in the box way too much, which is disappointing. Obviously I didn’t see it that way but they don’t care what I think. Our penalty kill was real good, we scored timely goals and I thought we did a lot of good things.

On the team holding the lead throughout the game:
I like it. I didn’t like the one goal there off the rush. We had a chance to get that puck in and we didn’t get it in. The next thing you know McDavid is coming in the other direction, but all-in-all it was a good night for us. I thought [Kadri]’s line did a real good job, I thought Hyman and Brown and Matthews were real relentless, [Bozak]’s line had the goal so that’s positive for us.

On neutral zone play as a key to victory:
I think that was part of it. We started heavy in the offensive zone in the first period in particular. Any time you’re on the road and you can get the lead obviously that’s positive.

On if this was Hyman’s best performance:
Well Zach Hyman plays good every night. Everyone talks about the other three guys and they forget about Brown and Hyman. They play every night, they’re real good pros and they’re going to be good pros for 10 years at least. They do it right every night.

NAZEM KADRI POSTGAME: NOVEMBER 29, 2016

On his aggressive play:
It’s just natural, really. Obviously things happen throughout the game and sometimes you get a little wound up and start playing a little more physical. It’s just really depending on how the game goes.

On if he felt extra energy from tonight’s matchup:
For sure, the building was electric off the start. It seemed like everybody was very excited. It was a great privilege to play here and there was a lot of hype around this game.

AUSTON MATTHEWS POSTGAME: NOVEMBER 29, 2016

On closing out the road win:
I think we just stuck to the game plan the full 60 minutes. We didn’t get away from it too much, we got pucks in deep, played heavy down there and grinded them down low. They’re a very good rush team so we wanted to eliminate that from them. I think we did a pretty good job of that tonight.

On scoring after picking up a penalty:
It was nice to make up for it. I don’t really like taking penalties – a guy was giving it to me in the box there so I got out of there pretty motivated. It was nice. Willy [Nylander] made an unbelievable pass so it was a great play.

On the assist from Nylander to set up his goal:
It was spot-on, couldn’t have been a better pass. All I had to do was tap it in. That’s just – I think it was late on the power play there so we were able to break in pretty clean and just make a little path.

MORGAN RIELLY POSTGAME: NOVEMBER 29, 2016

On the penalty kill:
Those guys – Hunwick and Polak and Smith and Brown and Hyman – deserve a lot of credit. I thought they were outstanding. They were blocking shots, we outworked them and they were a huge part of the win tonight and obviously a huge part of the PK.

On tonight’s performance on the road:
I think when we were talking to each other between periods tonight, the word we used was “gritty” and “greasy” road period. We went out there and it probably wasn’t our prettiest win, but we’re very happy kick this road trip off with two points.

On matching Edmonton’s speed:
I think that when you look at our team, I think speed is one thing that kind of stands out. When you play teams like Edmonton with the amount of speed they have and the amount of skill they have, I think it’s important we have our legs under us, we’re skating and we’re keeping up with them. I think that was a big part of what happened tonight.