William Nylander scores twice, Maple Leafs down Kraken 4-1

By Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press on October 31, 2024.

TORONTO – William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 24 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Thursday.

Matthews Knies and Auston Matthews, with a bank-shot empty netter to go along with an assist, had the other goals for Toronto (6-4-1). John Tavares added two assists.

Eeli Tolvanen replied for Seattle (5-5-1). Joey Daccord stopped 25 shots.

Knies opened the scoring late in the first period before Nylander potted two in the second after mentioning at a morning media availability he was keen for more ice time from head coach Craig Berube.

Tolvanen spoiled Woll’s bid for his second career shutout with 3:28 left in regulation and Daccord on the bench for an extra attacker before Matthews sealed it into the empty net.

Seattle was coming off Tuesday’s 8-2 drubbing of the Montreal Canadiens.

Takeaways

Leafs: Knies scored in a third consecutive game to give him six goals on the season. Nylander leads the Leafs with eight.

Kraken: Already minus Vince Dunn (upper-body injury), the visitors were down another defenceman with Brandon Montour back in Seattle for the birth of his second child.

Key moment

The Kraken iced the puck with less than 10 seconds to go in the first with the score tied 0-0. Matthews bullied his way to a win on the ensuing faceoff before feeding Mitch Marner, who in turn found Knies to complete the pretty passing play.

Key stat

Tavares became the fifth Leafs player age 34 or older in the past 50 years with 10 or more points through his first 10 games of a season with his assist on Nylander’s first goal.

Up next

Toronto opens a two-game road trip Saturday in St. Louis, while Seattle plays the second of five straight away from home the same night in Ottawa.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2024.

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