In Toronto, the Maple Leafs hammered the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night, 7-0, in a game that wasn’t that close.
Mitchell Marner extended his point streak to 23 games on two assists.
“He’s playing great, continues to roll and one of the top wingers in the game and plays in all situations for us,” Maple Leafs captain John Tavares said. “I think as a team and [he] himself would just say we’re just trying to focus on playing our game and what’s bringing us success and getting the results we want as a team. He obviously plays a major role for us, so he’s continuing to play great, and we’re just trying to focus on our game and getting better, and feeding off the good things we’re doing.”
Alexander Kerfoot scored this first of his double in the first period, and Tavares added a marker in the first for a 2-0 lead. From there it was a glide to the finish.
Ilya Samsonov made 28 save in his second shutout in a row.
“First period, a little bit hard for us,” Samsonov said. “… But we turned game in the second period. For me, it’s playing much easier.
“Everybody feels comfortable right now because we play really hard. … That’s really important for us.”
The Leafs improved to 19-5-6.
“That performance in the third was embarrassing, myself included,” Anaheim forward Troy Terry said. “It’s the whole team. We have a young kid (Dostal) who has played a handful of games, and he’s going in there and we left him out to dry.
“It’s unacceptable. This year, everyone knows how hard it’s been, but all we have is each other and that’s been the message. Sometimes games aren’t going to go our way. But to not play for each other, it’s unacceptable.”
Maybe concentrate on boring, run-of-the-mill scoring techniques and not some fancy show-offs.
“I thought we gave them just too much room in the first period,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “A little too easy access to our zone, to the middle of the ice. But Samsonov was excellent in that period, and it allowed us to settle in.”
The Ducks have lost nine straight and dropped to 7-20-3.
After an evenly played first 20 minutes, the Ducks went soft.
In the middle frame, TJ Brodie and Michael Bunting scored in the back half of the frame for a 4-0 advantage headed to the third.
The third period was a disgrace with the Maple Leafs taking a 5-0 lead on Kerfoot’s second of the night.
“That’s big obviously,” Kerfoot said. “I haven’t put many pucks in the net so far this year so it feels good to get some. I feel like we did a lot of good things tonight so we just have to keep that rolling.”
Pierre Engvall and Joey Anderson scored for the final two merciful goals on the game, and the 7-0 final.
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John Gibson got the start for the Ducks and made 25 saves, and surrendered two goals through the midway point of the second period. He left the ice with an apparent injury.
Lukas Dostal made 10 saves in relief.
“I’m embarrassed the way we let Lukas down in the third,” Eakins said. “It’s the one thing that this team hasn’t done this year. They’ve always worked for each other and we had a few players that decided they were just going to play by themselves and it cost us.”
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