TORONTO (AP) — Bobby McMann had two goals and an assist, Auston Matthews added his NHL-leading 58th goal into an empty net and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-3 on Saturday night.
“Team effort,” McMann said. “A lot of guys contributed to that. There’s a reason we get opportunities, odd-man rushes, plays around the net. Guys around us are working hard.”
Pontus Holmberg also scored twice, William Nylander had a goal and an assist, and Matthews added assist. Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves before leaving because of an injury with 3:39 left. Martin Jones stopped five shots in relief.
“Our guys just competed hard,” said Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe, who added Samsonov should be fine. “We played with lots of attitude.”
Toronto has won two straight to improve to 40-20-9. Edmonton dropped to 42-22-4. The Oilers were 9-1-2 over their previous 12.
Former Maple Leafs winger Zach Hyman scored his 49th for Edmonton. Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl also connected for the Oilers, and Connor McDavid had three assists. Stuart Skinner allowed five goals on 23 shots in two periods, and Calvin Pickard made five stops in relief.
“Weird game,” Draisaitl said. “They probably capitalized on every single one of their chances, and we gave up a little too much the first 40.”
After the Maple Leafs killed off an early penalty, McMann opened the scoring at 4:17 of the first period. Nylander put the home side up two with his 39th on a slick power-play deflection with 1:46 left in the period.
Holmberg made it 3-0 at 8:02 of the second after Matthews won a race for the puck and Max Domi unselfishly found the forward for a wide-open net. The Swede added his second of the night 3:02 later on a three-on-one. McMann made it 5-0 with 4:14 left in the period.
Hyman scored on a power play 4:59 into the third and Perry cut it 5-2 on a man advantage at 8:32. Draisaitl scored his 36th with 3:39 left and Pickard on the bench for an extra attacker on a sequence that saw Samsonov get hurt and depart.
The Oilers continued to press, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hitting the post, but Toronto held on before Matthews iced it.
The Leafs were minus injured forwards Mitch Marner (high ankle sprain) and Calle Jarnkrok (hand), while winger Tyler Bertuzzi and defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin both missed out with an illness.
UP NEXT
Oilers: At Ottawa on Sunday night.
Maple Leafs: At Carolina on Sunday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
The Associated Press
