Andrei Vasilevskiy, you’re no Igor Shesterkin.
Two nights after the Maple Leafs were stymied time and again by Shesterkin, tending goal for the New York Rangers, there was no similar problem with Vasilevskiy on Monday night at Scotiabank Arena.
The Leafs chased the Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender with four goals on 14 shots on the way to a 5-2 beating of their Atlantic Division rivals.
William Nylander scored two goals for the Leafs, who improved to 4-2-0. Anthony Stolarz shone in the Leafs net with 32 saves.
Auston Matthews, with Toronto’s third power-play goal of the season, Max Pacioretty and Matthew Knies also scored for the Leafs.
Nylander scored before the game was four minutes old and though Tampa’s Nick Paul tied the game 12 minutes later, the Leafs were playing with more enthusiasm and were aided by Vasilevskiy’s off night. Paul was credited when Stolarz stopped him, only to have Simon Benoit slide into the net along with the puck.
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Matthews put the Leafs up 2-1 early in the second, going to the net and slamming a Mitch Marner rebound past Vasilevskiy. Coach Craig Berube has been demanding that his players have a better net-front presence with a man advantage, and sure enough, they were rewarded for doing so with the Matthews goal.
After Nylander scored his second of the game when he kept the puck on an odd-man rush, Pacioretty beat Vasilevskiy to the top corner, ending the latter’s night at 9:31 of the second period.
Knies scored on a breakaway on backup Jonas Johansson not long after Tampa coach Jon Cooper pulled Vasilevskiy.
Pacorietty scored after he was a healthy scratch the previous two games. Ryan Reaves on Monday took Pacioretty’s spot in the press box.
The Knies goal came after the Leafs killed off a full two-minute, 5-on-3 Tampa power play when Max Domi and Bobby McMann were assessed minors at the same time.
Stolarz stopped Brandon Hagel and Victor Hedman on one-timers, and then pulled the puck off the goal line on Jake Guentzel’s attempt from the side of the net.
Brayden Point scored a power-play goal for Tampa late in the third.
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