In Toronto, the Maple Leafs were relentless in their win Thursday night over the Vancouver Canucks. 
Jason Spezza potted a hat trick for the Leafs and Auston Matthews added two goals in a 7-3 shellacking of the Canucks.
“No hats tonight, but I got a water shower walking into the room, the guys got me good,” Spezza said. “It was a nice night, the puck was following me and I haven’t had too many of those nights the past couple of years.”
Frederik Andersen made 16 saves in the win. Toronto improved to 8-2-1.
“Even more than getting the hat trick, it makes me proud to see how happy the guys were for me,” Spezza said. “Those are moments you never forget.”
J.T. Miller, Tanner Pearson and Bo Horvat scored for the Canucks.
“For us to feel sorry for ourselves and think it’s going to come easy for us, it’s not,” Horvat said. “It’s not our goaltenders’ fault. We give up too many Grade A opportunities. It’s disappointing. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. We weren’t good tonight.”
Vancouver dropped to 6-8-0.
“I thought to be honest we looked like a tired team tonight playing against a fast, skilled team,” Canucks head coach Travis Green said. “And we were a day late, a second behind everywhere on the ice. Not happy with the game. No one in that room is. That wasn’t a good game. They’re a good team. They’re fast. They’re skilled. When you’re a step off and a step behind, they can make you look like we did tonight.”
Mitchell Marner and John Tavares added single markers for Toronto.
“We were a rested team (their last game was a 4-3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 30) playing against a very tired team who has had a very tough schedule,” Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “So frankly, I expected us to be really good here today and make it hard on Vancouver. Now the challenge is to regroup and do it again (on Saturday).”
“[Spezza] means a lot to this team, more than anybody knows,” Matthews said. “That was fun to watch tonight, vintage Jason Spezza. He put on a show and he deserves it. He works so hard every day. At this stage of his career, the dedication he pours into his game and into the team is pretty incredible.”
Thatcher Demko made 30 saves in the loss.
“We keep hanging our goalies out to dry,” Miller said. “It’s unacceptable. We’ve done enough talking. It’s time to play, and play better.”
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