The visiting Toronto Maple Leafs salvaged their Thanksgiving weekend with a 7-2 thrashing of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.
Each player on Toronto’s goal-starved third line snapped lengthy droughts in a dominant second period.
Bobby McMann and Nicolas Roy each recorded a goal and an assist. Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, Max Domi, Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson also had multi-point games for Toronto. Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby has three multi-point games in four after notching a goal and an assist.
Toronto’s Dennis Hildeby earned his first NHL win since January, turning away 33 of 35 shots. Arturs Silovs allowed four goals on 10 shots before being replaced by Tristan Jarry, who stopped 10 of 13.
The Leafs opened the scoring on their first shot. Ekman-Larsson was fortunate to retrieve his own blocked shot off an unsuspecting Parker Wotherspoon, wristing his fourth goal of the season past a scrambling Silovs. The Swedish defenseman left in the third period with an injury.
Penguins rookie Ben Kindel responded some 90 seconds later off a bizarre play, a loose puck caroming off Scott Laughton’s shoulder before Kindel batted it out of the air and into the net from the low faceoff circle. Leafs rookie Easton Cowan stole back the lead with a goal, a little more than a flick into an open net off a smooth William Nylander feed from the high slot.
Two Leafs dashed lengthy scoring ruts to kick off the middle frame. McMann worked the puck to the point and hustled to the front of the net to tip a Rielly flip from the blue line past Silovs for his first point in seven games.
Dakota Joshua netted his first in 10 games two minutes later, prompting Penguins coach Dan Muse to pull the Latvian netminder. Roy scored just his second goal of the season off a slick saucer pass from Domi, returning after being scratched in a 4-2 loss at Washington on Friday.
The Penguins seemed to emerge with a newfound energy in the third, much like the night before. Crosby ignited the Penguins’ hopes with a backhand flip past Hildeby. Matthews quickly quashed any hopes for a competitive tilt with his 10th of the season. Nick Robertson added the Leafs’ seventh goal after stealing the puck from Matt Dumba on a breakout.
The result marked Toronto’s first regulation win since Nov. 5. The Penguins have dropped six of their last seven against the Leafs.
