GAME STORY: Maple Leafs 3, Oilers 0

FIRST BLOOD

The Leafs lit the lamp on their first shot of the game at 7:19 of the opening period as Morgan Rielly made a perfect pass from the point to Zach Hyman streaking towards the net and the forward deked to his backhand to beat Mikko Koskinen for his sixth of the season.

PLAY OF THE GAME

William Nylander’s impressive individual effort gave the Leafs a 2-0 lead at 10:20 of the first period for his ninth goal of the season. The play started with a faceoff on Toronto’s side of the neutral zone and the loose puck was up for grabs when Nylander pounced on it, burst into the Oilers zone and flipped a crafty backhand past Koskinen’s glove.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Early in the middle frame with the Oilers trailing 3-0 they generated a golden opportunity to get on the board when Adam Larsson fired a knuckle-puck slap-shot from the point that was deflected by Jesse Puljujarvi on its way to the net. Hutchinson stopped that shot and then made an outstanding pad save on Dominik Kahun’s rebound attempt to preserve his goose egg.

TURNING POINT

Toronto’s third goal of the opening period was a tough pill to swallow for the Oilers as they were halfway through killing off a penalty when Rielly’s point shot bounced off some bodies in front, found its way through Koskinen and just trickled over the goal line to put the visitors up by three, giving them more than enough of a lead to work with in the final 40 minutes.

Video: POST-RAW | Darnell Nurse 03.01.21

TOP PERFORMER

Rielly scored his third goal of the season, added an assist to give him 18 points in 23 games and logged 21:25 in ice time to lead the Leafs to their second straight shutout win in Edmonton.

FACT CHECK

With Connor McDavid’s goal coming in the final minute of last Thursday’s 3-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks, the Oilers have now gone 120 minutes and 23 seconds without lighting the lamp.

Video: POST-RAW | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 03.01.21

NEXT UP

The Oilers and Leafs will conclude their three-game series on Wednesday, followed by the fourth Battle of Alberta of the season on Saturday when the Calgary Flames visit Rogers Place. The Ottawa Senators will then come to town for three straight games next week.

PARTING WORDS

“They’ve been playing a really good checking game, staying on top of us, and capitalizing when they have their opportunities,” said Darnell Nurse, who led all skaters with 29:23 TOI. “They hopped out to a lead, checked well and were in front of us all night. For us, we’ve got to keep playing. We’ve gone through stretches where we’ve played really well and put wins together, but sometimes you’re going to go through two games like this.”

Video: POST-RAW | Tippett 03.01.21

“We’ve got to stay confident,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “We were rolling before this. It’s a bit of a blip on the radar. It happens in every season. We’ve got to find a way to break through, get that first one and go from there.”

“We’re in a rut,” said Head Coach Dave Tippett. “Teams get in a little rut where it seems like nothing you’re shooting is going in the net. Even with point shots and deflections, you can usually find one or two of those in a few games but they’re not going in for us right now.”