Noah Gregor scored the winner and added an assist, William Nylander extended his franchise record for points to start a season to 15 games with a goal of his own and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Saturday.
Matthew Knies, Nick Robertson and David Kampf provided the rest of the offence for Toronto (8-5-2). Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves in a bounceback performance.
Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi and Bobby McMann each added two assists.
J.T. Miller and Pius Suter replied for Vancouver (10-3-1). Thatcher Demko stopped 17 shots for the Canucks, who saw their five-game winning streak come to an end.
Toronto, which beat the Calgary Flames 5-4 in a shootout Friday despite blowing a 4-1 lead, allowed fewer than four goals on home ice for the first time in 2023-24, and will now head to Sweden for the start of next weekB次元官网网址檚 NHL Global Series.
Vancouver dropped to 8-1-1 over its last 10.
Point streaks EXTENDED鉂楋笍
B次元官网网址� Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks)
Pettersson - 8 games
Hronek - 9 games
Down 2-1 after 20 minutes, the Leafs tied it at 4:53 of the second period when Nylander banked a shot in off Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers for his 10th goal and 22nd point of the season after Demko robbed Bertuzzi moments earlier.
Toronto then pushed ahead for the first time when Gregor took a pass from Morgan Rielly and snapped is second on the Vancouver netminder at 14:22.
Robertson then stretched the LeafsB次元官网网址� advantage to 4-2 at 4:56 when he chipped his second up and over Demko.
Kampf then put things to bed at 9:13 when he tipped a Gregor shot in for his first.
Criticized for the lack of a physical response after defenceman Timothy Liljegren was injured on a questionable sequence involving Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand earlier this month, the Leafs had the fists flying early.
A little too early.
Toronto blueliner Mark Giordano B次元官网网址� the oldest player in the NHL B次元官网网址� dropped the gloves and went toe-to-toe with Vancouver centre Dakota Joshua following a hit on David Kampf, but received an extra two minute penalty for instigating along with a 10-minute misconduct.
The Canucks made the Leafs pay on the ensuing power play when Miller snapped his ninth goal of the season at 5:43 on Samsonov, who had been pulled in two of his last four starts and sporting an .855 save percentage in seven appearances before Saturday.
Toronto responded right after a Vancouver penalty expired 2:54 later when Knies banged home his fourth on a scramble.
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Ian Cole then smoked Leafs winger Nick Robertson with another clean hit that resulted in Domi fighting the Canucks defenceman.
That led to another instigator penalty for the home side, which Vancouver capitalized on when Suter scored his fourth on a rebound at 15:48 as TorontoB次元官网网址檚 porous penalty kill surrendered its 12th goal against in the last 11 games. Canucks defenceman Filip Hronek picked up an assist to stretch his point streak to nine contests.
PETTERSSON PRAISE
The Canucks centre Elias Pettersson, who started the day first in the NHL with 24 points, spoke glowingly before the game about the equally hot start for Vancouver captain Quinn Hughes.
The 23-year-old led all defencemen with 20 points entering play.
B次元官网网址淲here do you start?B次元官网网址� Pettersson said after the morning skate. B次元官网网址淗eB次元官网网址檚 been great all over the ice. Everyone knows heB次元官网网址檚 good offensively, but this season people are really recognizing his defensive play.B次元官网网址�
KLINGBERG RETURNS, REAVES SITS
John Klingberg returned to the Toronto lineup following a one-game absence for an unspecified injury. The defenceman has struggled since joining the Leafs in free agency, putting up just five assists and sitting a minus-8 through 13 games.
Ryan Reaves, meanwhile, sat out in favour of McMann, who was called up from the American Hockey League. The Leafs enforcer is an ugly minus-11.
BLUEGER CLOSE
Canucks forward Teddy Blueger (lower-body injury) skated Saturday morning and is close to making his debut after signing in free agency.
Vancouver head coach Rick Tocchet said itB次元官网网址檚 a delicate balance when a player is set to return to a team playing well.
B次元官网网址淲hen you have those tough decisions, thatB次元官网网址檚 a good thing,B次元官网网址� he said of having to sit a teammate down. B次元官网网址淪ometimes a guy gets pulled (from the lineup) not necessarily for his play B次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檚 that you want to get a guy in.
B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 the tough part of coaching.B次元官网网址�
UP NEXT
The Canucks visit the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday, while the Leafs head to Sweden for a pair of games as part of the NHL Global Series beginning Friday in Stockholm against the Minnesota Wild.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2023.
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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
