Toronto Maple Leafs score early to beat Arizona Coyotes 7-4

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Toronto Maple Leafs score early to beat Arizona Coyotes 7-4. Here is the summary for the game played on Thursday, December 28, 2017

GAME SUMMARY         |           EVENT SUMMARY        |           FACEOFF SUMMARY

ON THE SCORESHEET

Zach Hyman put the Maple Leafs on the board with a shorthanded goal at 8:55 of the first period. Hyman led Toronto with four shorthanded goals in 2016-17.

Auston Matthews scored the second Toronto goal of the game at 10:58 of the first period. He has goals (2) and points (2-1-3) in two consecutive games.

Mitch Marner recorded the third Maple Leafs goal of the night at 11:25 of the first period before recording the primary assists on both of Patrick Marleau’s second period goals. Marner has points (3-6-9) in four consecutive games. Tonight’s game is Marner’s ninth multi-point game of the season.

The Maple Leafs’ three first period goals from Zach Hyman, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner came 2:30 apart, making them the three fastest goals scored by Toronto in 2017-18. (Previous: 2:38 – Oct. 4 at Winnipeg; Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk, William Nylander)

Patrick Marleau scored the fourth Maple Leafs goal of the night on the power play at 9:15 of the second period before registering the sixth Toronto goal of the game at 15:23 of the second period. He later added the secondary assist on Connor Brown’s third period goal. With his two goals, Marleau tied Pat Verbeek for 36th on the NHL’s all-time goal scoring register with 522. Marleau’s three points moved him past Frank Mahovlich for 59th overall on the NHL’s all-time points register with 1104.

William Nylander had the primary assist on Matthews’ first period goal and later recorded the fifth Maple Leafs goal of the night at 15:13 of the second period. The assist was Nylander’s 100th career NHL point. Tonight’s game is his sixth multi-point game of the season. He has points (3-3-6) in four consecutive games.

Toronto’s fifth and sixth goals from William Nylander and Patrick Marleau came 0:10 apart, which are the two fastest goals scored by the Maple Leafs on the road in 2017-18. (Previous: 0:19 – Dec. 19 at Pittsburgh; Connor Brown and James van Riemsdyk)

Connor Brown scored an empty net goal for the Maple Leafs at 17:30 of the third period. Brown has scored seven of his 10 goals on the road this season. The Maple Leafs are 8-2-0 when Brown registers a goal this season.

Jake Gardiner picked up the secondary assist on Matthews’ first period goal. Gardiner has three points (1-2-3) over his last three games.

Tyler Bozak had the primary assist on Marner’s first period goal. Bozak has six points (1-5-6) over his last four games. His assist is the 210th of his career – all with the Maple Leafs – which places him in a tie with Todd Gill for 24th on the Maple Leafs all-time assist register.

James van Riemsdyk registered the secondary assist on Marner’s first period goal. He has recorded 15 of his 26 points on the road this season (9-6-15).

Morgan Rielly recorded the secondary assist on Marleau’s first goal in the second period and the primary assist on Brown’s third period goal. Rielly has assists (4) in two consecutive games. Tonight’s game is his second consecutive multi-assist game and his third multi-assist game of the season.

Leo Komarov had the secondary assist on Marleau’s second goal in the second period. Komarov has registered six of his nine points (2-4-6) on the road this season.

Frederik Andersen stopped 30 shots to earn the victory. Andersen’s win is his 20th of the season. He is the third goaltender in the NHL to reach the 20 win mark in 2017-18.

SHOTS FIRED

The Maple Leafs were outshot by a 34-33 margin all situations and a 30-29 margin at 5-on-5.

Arizona had a 78-52 lead in shot attempts in all situations and a 65-46 lead in shot attempts at 5-on-5

Morgan Rielly led the Maple Leafs with five shots on goal

Jake Gardiner had a team-high six shot attempts.

SHOTS ON GOAL

SHOT ATTEMPTS

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

The Maple Leafs are 12-9-1 on the road this season.

Toronto’s all-time record is 37-51-8-2 in 98 games against the Coyotes and 16-25-6-0 in games played in Arizona.

Toronto is 11-6-0 against the Western Conference this season and 8-4-0 against the Pacific Division.

The Maple Leafs are 7-1-0 in the first leg of back-to-backs this season.

The Maple Leafs wrap up their back-to-back on Friday, Dec. 29 at Colorado. 

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

RECORD WHEN…

The Maple Leafs were 5-for-6 on the penalty kill and 1-for-1 on the power play tonight. Toronto is 8-7-0 when allowing a power play goal this season and 9-4-0 when scoring a power play goal.

Toronto is 19-5-0 when scoring the first goal of the game.

The Maple Leafs are 13-3-0 when leading after one period and 15-1-0 when leading after two periods.

Toronto has a 16-7-0 record when outshot by their opponent.

The Maple Leafs are 3-3-0 in Thursday games.

Toronto is 2-0-0 when scoring a shorthanded goal.

OF NOTE…

Tyler Bozak appeared in his 550th game – all with the Maple Leafs – to move into a tie with Tod Sloan for 25th on the Maple Leafs all-time games played register.

Jake Gardiner was on the ice for a team-high 22 Toronto shot attempts-for at 5-on-5. He finished the game with a 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 44.9 percent (22 for, 27 against).

Dominic Moore started 37.5 percent of his 5-on-5 shifts in the offensive zone, which was the lowest percentage among Maple Leafs skaters tonight.

William Nylander won 80 percent of his faceoffs (4 won, 1 lost) when matched up against Arizona centre Derek Stepan tonight.

UPCOMING GAMES:

Friday, Dec. 29 at Colorado Avalanche, 9:00 p.m. (Sportsnet Ontario, TSN 1050)

Sunday, Dec. 31 at Vegas Golden Knights, 3:30 p.m. (Sportsnet, FAN 590)

Tuesday, Jan. 2 vs. Tampa Bay Lightning, 7:00 p.m. (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)

Thursday, Jan. 4 vs. San Jose Sharks, 7:00 p.m. (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)

Saturday, Jan. 6 vs. Vancouver Canucks, 7:00 p.m. (Hockey Night in Canada, TSN 1050)

POSTGAME QUOTES:

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

On tonight’s result:

I liked the fact that we win. I didn’t think it was a high-level game. They played last night and I didn’t think we were even close to being what we’re capable of being. We scored, but we didn’t defend very well and take care of the puck. It’s a good win for us and obviously it’s a big road trip for us here. We’ve had a real grind on the road and we’d like to finish the trip off right. Good game for us tonight.

On Kadri’s status:

I don’t think it was serious. We thought he was coming right back and then they just decided – that’s what they get paid to do. I haven’t had an opportunity to talk to them at all, I’ll know more after the flight. 

On if it’s possible Kadri plays tomorrow:

Yes, I think that’s the plan at this point, but this is what I should say: I don’t have a clue what’s going on. How about we find out tomorrow? How’s that?

On momentum swings in the game:

Well the game was going our way, 3-0, we had it in the driver’s seat and they stopped playing. We had outshot them 11-2 and we were playing good, suddenly they outshot us 11-0 and the game is going in the wrong direction. That’s on us and we have to do a better job – the guys know that too. We got a win here tonight and it’s always nice for guys to score goals so that’s positive as well. We made lots of good plays, we just didn’t play very well without it.

On if Matthews was energized by being home:

Yeah, obviously you’re excited because your family is here and it’s a good thing. To me, Auston is just on his way back, he has been out for a while. He’s like a lot of us – we were off for Christmas and not quite as smooth we normally would be.

ZACH HYMAN (SHORTHANDED GOAL)

On scoring a shorthanded goal to start the game:

It was good. I think last time we played them they got two power play goals on us so it was good to get one back and it’s always nice to get a shorty.

On if he remembers playing against Scott Wedgewood in the AHL:

Yeah, we played Scott when he was with Albany. I also grew up playing in the GTHL so I grew up playing against him. He’s the same age as me and a really good guy. I’m happy he let me score that one.

On his goal celebration:

It may be the best one, I’ve fallen before in my celebration. In my first ever goal I fell too so it was fine.

PATRICK MARLEAU (2 GOALS, 1 ASSIST)

On Marner’s recent hot streak:

He’s feeling it right now, making some really great plays out there and controlling the play as well.

On importance of starting strong to start each period:

It was good to come out strong like we did. Then we took our foot off the gas there, but came out strong again in the second, so it was good to see.

On if anything was said in-between the first and second period:

Yeah, we just knew we got away from our game and that if we continued that way it wouldn’t have gone our way so we tried to right that and get going in the second:

On if the three-day rest played a part in tonight’s game:

Maybe, who knows. I think coming out strong showed a lot of maturity on our part and it’s something we can build off of.

MITCH MARNER (1 GOAL, 2 ASSISTS)

On linking up with Marleau tonight:

Definitely, that’s a big play for our power play. We’ve been using it a lot this year and it’s been working, so hopefully it keeps going that way. That second one Leo made a fantastic pass to me through the middle and lucky enough to get it to Pat and he made no mistake of it.

On his four-game point streak:

I just think our line is playing consistent. We’re being consistent every time we step on the ice and that’s a thing where I think at the start we were on and off. We’re getting behind their defence and moving the puck well and creating havoc down low. When we do I think that’s when we’re at our best.

AUSTON MATTHEWS (1 GOAL)

On tonight’s start:

It was definitely the start we wanted. I think halfway through the first period we kind of got away from it a little bit and they made it a pretty close game and we kind of turned it around there in the second. We definitely want to clean that up.

On what led to getting away from the game plan in the first period:

I think we just took our foot off the gas. We were definitely in their zone for the majority of that first 10 minutes and then we kind of got too cute and turned the puck over. They were able to salvage some zone time in our end and we definitely don’t want that.

On scoring in his hometown:

It was a great feeling. Definitely one I’ll remember – a pretty special goal. Definitely pretty nice.

On the team getting points from 11 different players:

It seemed like everybody contributed tonight and that’s what you want. That’s the kind of team we are, we’ve got a lot of depth and a lot of guys that can contribute in different ways. It’s definitely a good sign.