HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE

Kapanen nets pair, Sparks stands tall with Andersen down

Kasperi Kapanen scored twice and the Maple Leafs got a solid night in goal from Garret Sparks to turn away the Kings 4-1 in their first game back on home ice after a 4-0-0 road trip. There was no letdown back at Scotiabank Arena. Mitch Marner and Patrick Marleau, with his first of the season, had the other goals for the Leafs, now winners of five in a row:

á Offensive stars: Defenceman Jake Gardiner assisted on the Leafs’ first two goals. He has yet to score this season, but he’s still contributing on offence with great stretch passes … Kapanen notched his third goal of the season with a bank shot off Kings goalie Jack Campbell just 46 seconds into the game. Midway through the third period, Kapanen scored again after some passing magic on a twoon-one with Auston Matthews. Interesting stats: Kapanen’s first 57 NHL games (eight goals, two assists) and five games on the Matthews line (four goals, four assists).

á Defensive stars: Matthews committed the giveaway on the Kings’ first goal by Ilya Kovalchuk early in the second period, cutting the Leafs’ lead to 2-1. On his next shift, Matthews had big-time battles with Anze Kopitar in his own zone and was able to outmuscle the veteran all-star and start a breakout — a good response to his previous shift. Kopitar also felt some lumber from Igor Ozhiganov and Travis Dermott while crashing the net in the second … Par Lindholm had a solid night on Nazem Kadri’s line, but was also effective on the penalty-killing unit with Hyman … Connor Brown also did yeoman’s work with the Leafs a man down.

á Turning point: Marner’s goal came less than five minutes after Kovalchuk scored, restor- ing the Leafs’ lead to two.

á Talking point: Sparks was á solid in his second start of the season. That was important with No. 1 goalie Freddie Andersen now out day-to-day with a knee injury. The Kings outshot the Leafs 34-25, including 15-8 in the second period. á

á Takeaways: Nazem Kadri is goal-less in seven games after scoring 32 in each of the last two seasons, but he’s familiar with slow starts. He had just one goal in October three seasons ago, and three for the month in 2016-17 ... The Kings have yet to score a power-play goal: 0 for 3 on Monday. The Leafs are 9-for-19 on the season.

á They said it: “It’s bulletinboard material.” — Kadri on Monday morning, after he was told Washington’s Lars Eller said the Leafs “are not that special” after Saturday’s 4-2 win over the Capitals.

Numbers of note: Gardiner, while struggling to score, was second on the team in evenstrength ice time (19:11 per game) and started the secondmost five-on-five shifts in the defensive zone (43).

Who’s next? The Pittsburgh Penguins are in town Thursday night.

MARK BLINCH GETTY IMAGES John Tavares, Mitch Marner, Zach Hyman and (to a lesser extent) Nikita Zaitsev celebrate Marner’s second-period goal in Monday night’s 4-1 victory by the Maple Leafs over the Los Angeles Kings at Scotiabank Arena — their first game on home ice after a perfect four-game road swing.

NATHAN DENETTE THE CANADIAN PRESS John Tavares celebrates with goalie Garret Sparks, who held the fort with the Kings outshooting the Leafs 34-25.