Maple Leafs pull away from Golden Knights
Rielly, Matthews score 55 seconds apart in third period for Toronto
via NHL.com
Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly scored 55 seconds apart in the third period, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 6-3 at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.
Rielly scored off a shot from the point to make it 4-3 at 10:01, and Matthews extended the lead to 5-3 at 10:56 on a turnaround in the slot that beat Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury blocker side.
“Close game going into the third, they score a big goal. I thought we responded well,” Rielly said. “This is a pretty cool place to play, pretty cool building to play in. We were excited to come here. Obviously, we’re happy with the result, but there are little things over the course of the game that we can take away as good signs and we’re looking forward to keeping this road trip going and hopefully we can keep playing well.”
They said it
“I think a lot of fans circled this one on the calendar. … Vegas is Vegas. It’s a lot of fun. We’ve got a great crowd no matter where we go, and you could definitely hear it here as well.” — Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews
“There are opportunities there to score and to try and win games, or to put us in position to win games. When it’s not working, you’ve just got to look in the mirror and try to worry about yourself and worry about elevating your game to help the team.” — Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty
Need to know
Matthews has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past two games and has scored seven goals in his past nine games. … Johnsson left the game at 1:28 of the second period with a lower-body injury. … Engelland played in his 600th NHL game. … Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt had his three-game point streak end. … Karlsson’s goal was his second in his past nine games.
What’s next
Maple Leafs: At the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, SNO, FS-A, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: Host the Nashville Predators on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ATTSN-RM, FS-TN, NHL.TV)
TOR with a 56% even strength Corsi-for edge #TMLtalk #VegasBorn #TORvsVGK pic.twitter.com/5gQSGRjNiA
— cold analytics (@coldanalytics) February 15, 2019
Among players to begin their NHL career with @MapleLeafs, only 2 required fewer personal GP than @AM34 to score their first 100 career regular-season goals all with the franchise:
Reg Noble on Dec. 23, 1922 (112 GP)
Charlie Conacher on Nov. 9, 1933 (162 GP)#NHLStats #TORvsVGK pic.twitter.com/NCoF5rWjQe— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 15, 2019
The only other player who began his NHL career with the @MapleLeafs Leafs and scored goal No. 100 within his first 200 career regular-season games (all w/ TOR) was Busher Jackson on Feb. 3, 1934 (200 GP). #NHLStats #TORvsVGK pic.twitter.com/jkmvBZi1Na
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 15, 2019
What happens in Vegas, gets celebrated in Toronto.
Here are tonight's @OntarioLottery Game Winning Numbers.#LeafsForever #That649Feeling pic.twitter.com/2NqJfpWghm
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 15, 2019