Nylander’s OT goal lifts Leafs over Devils
TORONTO — William Nylander scored with 2.2 seconds left in overtime and Frederik Andersen made 42 saves in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 1-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
The Maple Leafs have won five straight to improve to 13-7-0.
Corey Schneider stopped 24 shots for New Jersey. The Devils dropped to 11-4-3.
Toronto star center Auston Matthews was on the ice for the optional morning skate, but sat out his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury.
Miles Wood had the game’s first scoring chance as he got in alone on Andersen 6:37 into the opening period, only to be turned away by the Danish goaltender.
The Leafs, with the seventh-best power play in the league, nearly made it 1-0 midway through the first on the man advantage, but Schneider came up big twice.
First, he stretched out to rob James van Riemsdyk with his right arm along the ice on the goal-line with the net wide open, then he came across the crease to stop Patrick Marleau on a one-timer set up by Nylander.
A couple big stops from Andersen and a few missed nets by the Devils on a power play saved Connor Brown after he flipped the puck over the glass trying to clear his zone midway through the second period. New Jersey’s third-ranked power play kept Toronto hemmed in its own zone for well over a minute but couldn’t take the lead.
Toronto’s offence was absent for 16-plus minutes in the second until van Riemsdyk was turned away on its best scoring chance of the period, choosing to keep the puck and shoot on a 2-on-1 with Mitch Marner.
Johnny Boychuk scored the tiebreaking goal on a slap shot with 4:25 remaining and New York rallied to beat Carolina at home. Mathew Barzal had a goal and two assists, and Nick Leddy, Josh Bailey and Cal Clutterbuck each had a goal and an assist to help the Islanders remain one of two NHL teams without a regulation loss at home this season at 6-0-2. Steven Stamkos had two goals and two assists, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves, and Tampa Bay beat Dallas at home. Mikhail Sergachev, Brayden Point, Jake Dotchin and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning, who have the NHL’s best record at 15-2-2.
Derek Stepan and Christian Fischer scored power-play goals in the third period and Arizona rallied to beat Montreal on the road for its first regulation victory of the season. Brad Richardson, Christian Dvorak and Tobias Rieder also scored for the Coyotes, and Antti Raanta made 33 saves. Brendan Gallagher, Paul Byron, Joe Morrow and Shea Weber scored for the Canadiens, and Charlie Lindgren stopped 27 shots. Patric Hornqvist and Jake Guentzel each scored in the second period and Pittsburgh held on for a win over Ottawa on the road. Riley Sheahan scored into an empty net at 19:29 of the third for the Penguins. Matt Murray made 21 saves and faced just 12 shots over the final two periods. Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in the third period for the Senators, who won their previous two games. Craig Anderson turned aside 26 shots.
The owner of the NBA’s Houston Rockets expressed interest in bringing an NHL franchise to Houston. Tilman Fertitta posted on his verified Twitter account that he would be open to the possibility of acquiring an NHL team. He stressed it must be a deal that works for all parties concerned.