GAME RECAP: Maple Leafs 6, Oilers 3

Hyman picks up his 49th goal in a losing effort on Saturday as Edmonton's third-period rally falls short in a 6-3 defeat to Toronto at Scotiabank Arena

March 24, 2024

TORONTO, ON – Zach Hyman scored his 49th goal of the season as the Oilers tried to mount a third-period comeback against the Maple Leafs, but the damage was done in the opening 40 minutes of a 6-3 defeat for Edmonton at Scotiabank Arena on Hockey Night in Canada.

The Maple Leafs scored twice in the opening period and added three more in the middle frame to take a commanding 5-0 lead into the third period off multi-goal efforts from forwards Pontus Holmberg and Bobby McMann.

"I think they probably capitalized on every single one of their chances, and we gave up a little too much the first 40," said Leon Draisaitl, who scored in the defeat. "They did a good job of capitalizing on their looks, so we just gave up too much in the first 40 minutes."

Zach Hyman and Corey Perry notched power-play goals in the final frame before Draisaitl scored with the net empty in the final five minutes, giving the Oilers extra life near the end of the contest until Auston Matthews added an empty-netter in the final moments to solidify Toronto's victory.

"We just have to play hard the whole time," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "I thought we came out hard and the mistakes that we made were too costly."

Connor McDavid contributed three assists in the losing effort, matching his career-high for assists with 89, while Evan Bouchard added two helpers to increase his point streak to six games.

Stuart Skinner conceded five goals on 23 shots before giving way to Calvin Pickard to begin the third period, who made five saves in relief.

The Oilers won't have to wait long to get the opportunity to respond when they travel to Ottawa to take on the Senators in the second game of a back-to-back on Sunday at Canadian Tire Centre.

The Leafs take a 6-3 victory over the Oilers.

The Oilers let an early power play that was drawn by Connor McDavid off their opening possession go unanswered before the Maple Leafs made them regret their missed opportunity before the first five minutes were over.

"I think a couple of things – we didn't capitalize on the early opportunities that we had in the first period, especially the McDavid line," Knoblauch said. "They spent a lot of time in the offensive zone and just didn't capitalize, and that set us back."

Timothy Liljegren pushed the puck down the boards and into the corner to John Tavares, who drew the attention of Sam Carrick to leave the front of Edmonton's net vacated of any back-tracking defenders. The Leafs captain put a backward pass through his legs and onto the tape of Bobby McCann in front for the centre from Wainwright, AB to notch his 12th goal of the season over the right pad of Skinner 4:17 into regulation.

"They were able to get that puck to the slot for the first goal against where we were all in good positions, but it's got to be harder for them to make that play," Knoblauch said. "So I think tonight, we didn't make many mistakes, but when we did they were big ones and they capitalized on them, and it was unfair for Stu."

Edmonton would be 0-for-2 on the power play when Toronto earned their first opportunity with the man advantage, which William Nylander finished off with a slick redirection on a low shot sent towards goal by Liljegren, who earned his second assist of the night on Nylander's 39th of the season.

"We also had a couple of power plays, and we didn't capitalize on our two power plays and they scored on theirs," Knoblauch said.

"It just snowballed from there."

Kris speaks following Saturday's 6-3 loss to the Maple Leafs

Edmonton's situation certainly didn't improve in the second frame as their collective turnovers and Toronto's speed compounded their frustrations.

Pontus Holmberg forced the puck off the stick of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the neutral zone and pushed the puck into Edmonton's end before Auston Matthews brushed past Evan Bouchard in the corner and found Max Domi in between the hashmarks, leading to the Leafs forward sending back over to Holmberg at the right post for an easy tap-into make it 3-0.

Only 3:02 later, Adam Henrique failed to keep the puck in at the blueline for the Oilers before Conor Timmins separated the Oilers forward and created a three-on-one rush for the Maple Leafs that was flipped over an outstretched Skinner by Holmberg for his second goal of the night.

The breakout and transition game was looking too easy for Toronto, which made it a five-goal advantage when Nylander set up Bobby McCann to pick up his own second goal of the game with a wrist shot that beat the Oilers netminder from the right circle.

The 5-0 deficit was the first that the Oilers have faced this season since their opening game against the Vancouver Canucks, which ended in an 8-1 defeat.

Edmonton's troubles continued even after the buzzer sounded on the second period when Darnell Nurse was given a roughing penalty and a 10-minute misconduct to award the Maple Leafs a power play on the other side of the intermission.

Leon speaks following the team's 6-3 loss in Toronto

The Oilers made it feel like a one-goal game in the final frame, but unfortunately, the damage had been done.

"It sure didn't feel like it was five-nothing going into the third," Darnell Nurse said. "We gave them too many great opportunities, and they're a good team and they're going to capitalize off them. But we battled back there in the third and made a game of it."

It would ultimately go down as a consolation goal on the power play, but Zach Hyman was able to pull to within one of 50 goals when Edmonton finally converted a power play on its fourth try.

Watch the recap of Saturday's 6-3 Oilers defeat in Toronto

McDavid made a sweet dish to Hyman at the back door for the Oilers winger to notch No. 49 on the season over the right pad of Ilya Samsonov to break up the Russian netminder's shutout just under five minutes into the third period.

Edmonton cut into the lead again as another power-play goal was about to expire three-and-a-half minutes later when Evander Kane made a terrific pass to the back post for Corey Perry, who squeaked his 10th of the season under Samsonov to make it 5-2.

"I think for our group, we believe we're capable of anything in here and we've been a good third-period team," he said. "So we didn't want to quit. We just didn't want to quit and we did that, and I guess we made a game of it in the end, but we weren't good enough in the first quarter."

Tony & Cam discuss Saturday's 6-3 loss to the Maple Leafs

The game was well and truly on when Leon Draisaitl got a bounce off a Toronto defenceman that managed to find its way under Samsonov for his 36th goal of the season with the Oilers net empty, making for an interesting final 3:39 of regulation.

The comeback was put on ice in the final few seconds when Auston Matthews fired a full-length shot into the yawning cage, solidifying the 6-3 victory for the Maple Leafs.

Darnell speaks following the Oilers 6-3 loss in Toronto