The Toronto Maple Leafs tie the series at one apiece after a 5-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. The Leafs took advantage of the penalty-heavy Habs, scoring two goals on the power play. Toronto outshot the Canadiens 34-23 through sixty. 

The Canadiens’ only goal came from Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the first period. Unable to build off the momentum, the Leafs scored 5 unanswered goals.

Veteran Jason Spezza scored the Leafs’ first goal of the evening. Zach Bogosian earned the assist. Auston Matthews started off the second period with the second goal of the night, assisted by Justin Holl and Mitch Marner. Matthews won the Rocket Richard this season with 41 goals, just six shy of his career-high. Toronto went up 3-1 with a power play goal brought to you by Rasmus Sadin. Marner and Matthews earned themselves a multi-point game with that one. William Nylander now leads the team in goals after scoring his second of the series. Nylander had 17 goals during the regular season. He was the subject of trade rumors throughout the season but showed the Toronto media he meant business. Alexander Kerfoot scored the final goal of the evening, giving the Leafs a four goal lead to close out the night. 

Toronto won 63% of faceoffs and led with 19 blocks. Jack Campbell had a very solid evening between the pipes. Can’t exactly say the same for Carey Price who struggled with a .879SV%. 

Morgan Riley led Toronto defenseman in ice time with 23:37. 

Tyler Toffoli, an offensive juggernaut for the Canadiens in the regular season with 44 points, has been silent through two games. Montreal can’t afford to slack off against the Leafs. They need their offense to be strong and consistent. Unfortunately, the team has been lacking and showing a lack of discipline as well. The team took six penalties on Saturday only killing four of them. 

Based on NaturalStatTrick, Toronto had 11 high danger scoring chances compared to Montreal’s 2. Maple Leafs captain John Tavares released a statement early Saturday day stating he was thankful for the outpouring of support. Tests were negative for any structural damage to the head. However, he did suffer a knee injury on top of the upper body injury. Time table for the knee is two weeks.