Matthews and Marner both at it again
Leafs stars lead way in win over Canucks
Several Toronto Maple Leafs got the day off from work on Thursday. For Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, it was business as usual.
The Leafs’ superstar duo hooked up for another highlight reel goal, helping drive the Leafs to a 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Scotiabank Arena.
In the first minute of the second period, Marner and Matthews broke in on a 2-on1 on Canucks goalie Braden Holtby.
Everyone in the building — which, granted, is not a lot of people right now — knew what was coming. Marner carried the puck, waited and set up Matthews for a onetimer.
Holtby couldn’t so much but shrug as the puck flew past him for Matthews’ 36th goal of the season. Marner scored in the final minute on a pass from Alex Kerfoot.
In the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy, Matthews opened an eight-goal lead on the Edmonton Oilers’ Connor Mcdavid.
David Rittich won for the first time in three starts with the Leafs, making 15 saves. Toronto had 24 shots on Holtby.
The 16 shots allowed by the Leafs were the fewest an opponent has had against them in 2020-21. The previous low was 18 against Calgary on March 19.
The Leafs started the night with a seven-point lead on the Oilers for first place in the North Division. Edmonton played later at home against Calgary.
Wayne Simmonds got a chore out of the way early, beating up on Canucks defenceman Alex Edler in a one-sided fight. The roots of the scrap, which went down before the game was two minutes old, go back to Edler’s knee-on-knee hit on Zach Hyman on April 18 in Vancouver.
Hyman suffered a sprained knee on the play and the National Hockey League suspended Edler for two games, but just to be sure, Simmonds meted out his own punishment.
Three Leafs stalwarts — defencemen Jake Muzzin and Morgan Rielly, and forward Nick Foligno — didn’t dress.
Neither did goalie Jack Campbell. Instead, Michael Hutchinson backed up Rittich after Campbell made 32 saves in a Leafs win in Montreal on Wednesday night.
Coach Sheldon Keefe gave the same reason for each of the four scratches: Maintenance day.
With a playoff spot clinched, will Keefe give more players a similar rest in the final six games?
“We’ll take it a day at a time and a game at a time, based on how the players are feeling and what the schedule is bringing us,” Keefe said. “I guess the easy answer is no, I don’t foresee it, given the way the schedule goes. But how the players are feeling is really what’s going to more dictate it than anything and we’ll adjust accordingly.”
The schedule plays in favour of a team which is fine with some rest heading into the post-season. The Leafs are done with back-to-back sets (with the win on Thursday, they finished 5-3-0 in the second game of those sets).
“We’re glad we don’t have any more,” Keefe said. “The schedule actually does lighten up a little bit here for us the rest of the way.”
Rasmus Sandin was rewarded for his recent fine play by being partnered with TJ Brodie.
For the first time this season, Keefe inserted Timothy Liljegren on the blue line. Also in the lineup was defenceman Ben Hutton, making his Leafs debut after being acquired from Anaheim this month, and forward Pierre Engvall, who was scratched the previous two games.
Liljegren played in his first NHL game since March 5, 2020.
“Liljegren has got a lot of real defensive value to this game that he has brought with this ability to move the puck,” Keefe said. “You want to see that continue and be a guy who can be relied upon and earn the trust of the coaching staff, and then just be solid and consistent.”
Liljegren, at the least, will be an option for Keefe if the club runs into injuries.
William Nylander gave the Leafs a 1-0 lead at 15:29 of the first after the Leafs had dominated in the early going. A pass from Alex Galchenyuk was taken by Nylander, who then slipped the puck under Holtby.
The Matthews goal made it 2-0, and it was 3-0 at 2:56 of the second when Engvall wristed a Sandin feed past Holtby.
Jason Spezza also assisted on the goal, moving him past Maurice Richard into sole possession of 99th in NHL history with 967 points.
The Canucks got on the board at 15:36 of the second as Liljegren served a hooking minor, when J.T. Miller bounced the puck into the net off Rittich.