The Toronto Maple Leafs scored four goals in the second period on the way to a 7-4 win over the Edmonton Oilers Saturday night.
“It was probably the last eight minutes of that period that were not our finest hour and certainly situations within our control,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said after the game.
“We thought we got away from playing simple. We tried to pass though people and they’re a good team — they have good sticks — and I just saw a lot of self-inflicted wounds during that little time frame there.”
The teams traded goals 22 seconds apart before the game was four minutes old.
Noel Acciari banged in a loose puck in front to put Toronto in front. Mattias Ekholm provided the response, stepping into a slapper and ripping his first as an Oiler past Matt Murray.
Evander Kane made it 2-1 Oilers, swooping behind the net and tucking in a wraparound.
Connor McDavid notched his 55th early in the second, sliding a shot five-hole on Murray. The Leafs regained the lead with three goals in exactly three minutes.
Ryan McLeod turned the puck over to Mitch Marner, who then deployed a couple of nifty moves to beat Skinner.
William Nylander took advantage of another Oilers giveaway to tie it, then John Tavares finished off a two-on-one with Auston Matthews. Tavares added a power play goal late in the second to make it 5-3 Toronto after two.
“We all saw what happened,” Kane said. “Self-inflicted wounds; turnovers that we can’t make against good players and good teams. It was a tough four minute stretch there.”
Tavares set up Matthews for another power play strike halfway through the third. Leon Draisaitl gave the Oilers a bit of life with a power play one-timer with 7:29 to go.
The Oilers went on another power play a couple of minutes later but couldn’t muster a goal. Acciari hit the empty net in the final minute.
Marner had a goal and three assists. McDavid had a goal and two assists.
“I thought we had a really good road trip and we had an opportunity to make it a great road trip with being up 3-1 here, and we obviously didn’t capitalize,” Zach Hyman said.
The Oilers, 36-23-8, will host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 5:30 p.m. Game at 7 p.m.).
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