In Toronto, the Maple Leafs’ Martin Marincin picked a most opportune time to score his first goal of the season, early in the third period, to snap a 2-2 tie with the Vancouver Canucks en route to a 4-2 win for the Loafs, on Saturday.
Zach Hyman sealed the win for the Maple Leafs with an empty net goal – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“I just got a great pass from John Tavares and I had pretty good speed so I felt like it would be a pretty good chance for a shot and I tried and it went in,” Marincin said. “I was so happy, my first goal this season, so I was excited for that, and it made it 3-2 for us early in third period, it was good for our team too.”
Frederik Andersen made 25 saves in the win.
Tanner Pearson and Tyler Motte scored for the Canucks
“We created enough to be able to score more goals, but it is what it is. I have to be better too, I’m not playing my best hockey now,” the Canucks’ Elias Pettersson said. “It’s everywhere (I need to be better). We’re still good in the standings but we can’t accept playing good and still losing. We have to win games and get points.”
Auston Matthews and Frederik Gauthier also scored for the Maple Leafs.
“We’ve really bought in the way we want to play lately,” Andersen said. “Guys have been doing some great jobs blocking shots. We’ve been playing really tight as a group, so our resiliency has been great.”
Zach Hyman added an empty net goal for the sealer.
“I think everybody contributed tonight, which was awesome,” Hyman said. “Great for Martin to get the game-winner, what a goal it was, so that really got the bench alive and that was awesome. We’re short on staff back on [defense], but our guys are stepping up and playing great.”
[WATCH:Â All Canucks vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Thatcher Demko made saves in the loss.
“It was a good game by our team, we played a good road game and battled back,” Vancouver head coach Travis Green said. “It was a bit of an unlucky goal the third one, but it was good response from our team coming into a tough building against a good team. I thought we did a lot of good things today.”
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