Nylander, Maple Leafs cruise past Canucks 5-0

TORONTO – William Nylander returned from a six-game absence due to injury with one goal and two assists as the Toronto Maple Leafs cruised past the Vancouver Canucks 5-0 on Saturday night.

Matias Maccelli, Max Domi, John Tavares and Nick Robertson also scored for Toronto (22-15-7), which extended its winning streak to three games, and seven straight at home. Joseph Woll made 29 saves for his second shutout of the season.

Thatcher Demko was pulled after giving up three first-period goals on six shots for Vancouver (16-23-5), which dropped its sixth in a row. Kevin Lankinen stopped 16 shots in relief.

Maccelli opened the scoring on the Leafs’ second shot 8:03 into the first period. Nylander and Auston Matthews had a give-and-go before Nylander sent a centring pass in front for Maccelli to tip in.

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A streaking Nylander skated around Marcus Pettersson off a feed from Steven Lorentz and tucked in a backhand just out of the reach of Demko’s stretched out leg with 20 seconds left in the first.

Nylander found Tavares all alone behind Vancouver’s defence and Tavares roofed it past Lankinen at 13:07 of the second period.

Robertson scored with 13.4 seconds left on the power play.

TAKEAWAYS

Maple Leafs: Toronto was whistled for four penalties, including ending up in a 4-on-3, and only had six shots to Vancouver’s 15 in the opening period. The Leafs got their first shot on goal 7:09 into the game. But the theme of the frame, and the game, was quality over quantity, patience and capitalizing on mistakes.

Canucks: Despite the shot count (29-24), Vancouver just couldn’t figure out the Leafs’ defence. The Canucks were also dominated in the faceoff circle (69.6 per cent to 30.4 per cent). Domi pummelling Pettersson in a fight with six minutes left in the second period was a snippet of how the game unfolded.