Toronto Maple Leafs win over Nashville Predators 5-2
The Leafs started the second half of the season on the right foot Sunday night in Nashville.
Toronto took the lead early in the first period on a goal from William Nylander at 4:13 in the first.
Nashville would respond quickly on a goal from Mikael Granlund (4:53), but the Leafs Zach Hyman scored less than 3 minutes later (7:12).
With the goal William Nylander now has 23 goals on the season.
Nylander’s goal came off an ally oop feed from Rasmus Sandin who was recently called up from the AHL.
Hyman, Sandin, Spezza, and Matthews also scored for the Leafs in the win.
It was a special night for Sandin who finshed with a goal and an assist.
With the goal Sandin scored his first ever NHL goal. Sandin would earn third star of the night for his two point performance.
The Leafs with the win improved to 17-7-3 under new head coach Sheldon Keefe.
Toronto was out shot in the game 36-31 but were able to capitalize on their chances.
Leaf net-minder Fredrik Andersen had a rebound game saving 34 of 36 shots posting a .944 save percentage.
This is promising for Toronto going forward as Andersen was struggling heading into the all-star break.
Toronto was 0 for 2 on the player play in the win and were out hit by Nashville 19-18 in the win.
Jake Muzzin in his first game back from injury played 22 minutes in the win finishing with 0 points and a blocked shot.
Goal scorers for Nashville were Mikael Granlund, and Viktor Arvidsson.
With the win Toronto still sits in 4th place in the Atlantic Division two games behind the 3rd place Florida Panthers.
The Leafs will head to Dallas Texas for their first matchup of the season with the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.
Puck drop is 7:30pm EST.
