What was supposed to be a spooky night at Scotiabank Arena turned into one of the prettiest nights of the season for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
William Nylander potted two goals, while Joseph Woll made 24 saves to lead the Maple Leafs to a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken.
Halloween night started off with a zombie-like pace in the early stages of the first, but once the two teams settled into the game, it was the Maple Leafs’ second line who generated the momentum. The trio of John Tavares, William Nylander and Max Pacioretty were back together for the second straight game and picked up right where they left off from Monday night in Winnipeg. Pacioretty did a great job to find some open areas throughout the offensive zone and continues to show off an ability to feed off the Tavares-Nylander chemistry, which they’ve been working on for years. It’s worth noting Pacioretty finished the night landing seven hits as he continues to show off an all-around game.
While the second line had several chances in the first period, it was the Maple Leafs’ top line who opened the scoring. With just seconds left in the opening frame, Auston Matthews made a sensational play off the draw to push it forward, Mitch Marner then showed off his unselfishness and Matthew Knies showed off his finishing ability in tight. Now this is pretty:
The late goal gave Toronto momentum to start the second period. Under two minutes in, Morgan Rielly made a filthy pass across the seam to Nylander, who made no mistake. Another gorgeous goal from the Maple Leafs as Nylander scores for the second straight game.
Nylander and the second line were not done there, and again, boy-oh-boy was it pretty. After creating several chances , which included a behind-the-back pass from Nylander to Pacioretty off the rush, Tavares would eventually get the puck in front and showed off his Spidey senses to find Nylander back door. 3-0 Maple Leafs on three beautiful plays.