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William Nylander served up a couple of more treats for Maple Leafs fans on Halloween.
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The prolific winger, who earlier on Thursday made some noise about wanting more ice time, scored two goals to drive the Leafs to a 4-1 victory against the Seattle Kraken at Scotiabank Arena.
Nylander’s hot start continued, as he now has eight goals in 11 games to begin the 2024-25 regular season.
Leafs goalie Joseph Woll was in line for what would have been his second National Hockey League shutout until Eeli Tolvanen scored with under four minutes remaining and Seattle goalie Joey Daccord on the bench in favour of a sixth skater. Tolvanen beat Woll through a screen.
Auston Matthews scored at 18:17 into an empty Kraken net when he banked the puck off the side boards.
Woll was sharp in his second start after coming back from groin tightness, and had some luck on his side too as the Kraken twice hit the post. Woll finished with 24 saves.
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The John Tavares line picked up where it left off in Winnipeg, when it combined for nine points in a 6-4 win against the Jets on Monday.
On Thursday, the trio of Tavares between Nylander and Max Pacioretty recorded five points. That included one of the nicer passes you’ll see in a while.
Down on one knee in front of the Kraken net, Tavares had the foresight to get the puck to Nylander, who was sitting at the back door for an easy finish. That came at 9:24 of the second, putting the Leafs up 3-0.
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Nylander scored from relatively the same spot for the Leafs’ second goal, as he slipped into a quiet spot and buried a Morgan Rielly pass before the second period was two minutes old.
It appeared the first period was going to end 0-0, but that was before Matthews won an offensive zone draw against Chandler Stephenson and made a quick pass to Mitch Marner. The latter immediately fed Matthew Knies, who beat Daccord from the top of the crease. The goal came with just five seconds remaining.
Three of Toronto’s goals came at five-on-five. The club failed to score on two power plays, dropping it to 3-for-34 on the season.
After practising on Friday, the Leafs will head on the road for a back-to-back set in St. Louis and Minnesota on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
The game against the Blues will mark coach Craig Berube’s first return to Missouri since he was fired by St. Louis last December.
tkoshan@postmedia.com
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