Life on the road ain’t all that bad. Just ask the Toronto Maple Leafs, who won their third straight away game Tuesday night, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 at Rogers Place.
Another strong performance in goal, this time by Anthony Stolarz and a rejuvenated power play keyed the victory.
Neither team was able to score in the first period. Toronto jumped out ahead in the second. Taking advantage of a bad line change and a failed Oilers’ clearing attempt, Jake McCabe was able to keep the puck in the Edmonton zone and fire a shot on net. The red-hot Matias Maccelli deflected the offering past Connor Ingram to make it 1-0 at the 7:12 mark.
Jake Walman responded for the Oilers, tying the game with a wicked slapshot that beat Stolarz at 11:09, but before Edmonton could finish celebrating, the Leafs were back in front. Matthew Knies scored nine seconds later. Edmonton defenceman Darnell Nurse misplayed the puck deep in his own zone, turning it over to Nicolas Roy, who found Knies in front of the Oilers’ net. Knies backhanded a shot by Ingram to put Toronto up 2-1.
The Oilers pressed the action at the beginning of the third period, scoring the equalizer at 4:27. Sustained pressure in the Toronto zone eventually led to a defensive breakdown, allowing former Maple Leaf Kasperi Kapanen to walk in and roof a shot over Stolarz to tie the game at 2-2.
With momentum, swinging to the opposite side, the outlook looked bleak for Toronto, but back-to-back Edmonton penalties gave Toronto life. John Tavares netted his 20th of the season, a backdoor tip-in on a five-on-three power play at 7:42. Then 31 seconds later, Maccelli added his second of the game, snapping home a cross-ice Max Domi pass on the man advantage to extend the lead to 4-2.
For the second straight night, Bobby McMann added an empty net goal to cinch the 5-2 victory
Next up, the break.
