McMann has 2 goals, assist in Maple Leafs win against Oilers

Bobby McMann had two goals and an assist for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 6-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

“That was pretty sweet, playing against Edmonton,” said McMann, who grew up in Wainwright, Alberta, 2 1/2 hours southeast of Edmonton. “Watching them growing up and the quality of team that that is, it was a special one for us to win.

“We came out with an attitude that we know we are a better team and we want to dictate the play from the start, and I think we did that and I’m proud of us for that. They have some skilled players and they pushed back a little bit, but we took it to them enough that it didn’t matter.”

Pontus Holmberg scored twice, and William Nylander extended his goal streak to five games and had an assist for the Maple Leafs (40-20-9), who are 4-1-1 in their past six. Auston Matthews scored his League-leading 58th goal of the season and had an assist.

Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves before leaving at 16:21 of the third period with an apparent lower-body injury after stretching across the net. Martin Jones made five saves in relief.

“Looks like he is going to be fine,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said of Samsonov. “… He got injured. It’s not anything near what it appeared or what I thought it might have been. I’m not going to give you too many details right now, but it looks like he will be fine and not miss any time.”

Connor McDavid had three assists, and Zach Hyman scored his 49th goal of the season for the Oilers (42-22-4), who had a six-game point streak end (4-0-2). Stuart Skinner allowed five goals on 23 shots before he was replaced for the start of the third period by Calvin Pickard, who made five saves.

McMann put the Maple Leafs ahead 1-0 at 4:17 of the first period when he one-timed a pass at the top of the crease from John Tavares, who was behind the net.

Toronto killed two penalties in the first period.

“They’re a team that thrives on time and space, and when you try to take that away from them and frustrate them, I think that’s what we did really well in the first couple periods and took advantage when we got our looks,” Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe said. “ … The penalty kill was big for us early in the game as well.”

Nylander made it 2-0 at 18:14 with a power-play goal when his redirection of Timothy Liljegren’s shot from the left point went off his skate at the left post.

Holmberg pushed it to 3-0 at 8:02 of the second period. He tapped in a centering pass from Max Domi in front after Matthews won the puck from Evan Bouchard along the end boards.

Holmberg made it 4-0 at 11:04 when he put in a cross-crease pass from McMann on a 3-on-1 rush.

“Weird game I thought,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said. “They probably capitalized on every single one of their chances, and we gave up a little too much in the first 40 (minutes).”

McMann extended the lead to 5-0 at 15:46, taking a pass from Nylander and shooting glove side past Skinner from the right circle.

“The way both those guys (Holmberg and McMann) have played, their games have kind of grown all year and the impacts they are making on the score sheet, let alone all different areas that they are helping the group has been fantastic,” said Tavares, the Toronto captain, “so it was great to see, especially on this stage.”

Hyman cut it to 5-1 at 4:59 of the third on the power play, redirecting a pass from McDavid between Samsonov’s pads at the top of the crease.

Corey Perry made it 5-2 at 8:32 with a power-play goal, tapping in a cross-crease pass from Evander Kane at the right post.

Draisaitl cut it to 5-3 at 16:21 with a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from McDavid with Pickard pulled for an extra attacker.

“I think it sure didn’t feel like it was 5-0 going into the third,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “We gave them too many Grade A opportunities. They’re a good team and are going to capitalize off them, but we battled back there in the third and made a game of it.

“You want to come out and win this game, obviously. But we didn’t and we move on to another one tomorrow (at the Ottawa Senators).”

Matthews scored an empty-net goal with 13 seconds left for the 6-3 final.