The Toronto Maple Leafs resume their home-heavy early schedule Monday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Maple Leafs gained a split of a two-game road trip Saturday with a 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers that featured the first NHL goal by their top rookie, Easton Cowan.
They now play their next four at home. At the end of the homestand, they will have played 12 of their first 16 games at home. The Maple Leafs had lost their first three road games before their success in Philadelphia.
The Maple Leafs played their second straight game, and third of their past four, without William Nylander (lower-body injury). The absence of Nylander, a 45-goal scorer last season, created an opportunity for Nicholas Robertson to play on the top line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies.
Robertson had the game-winning goal and an assist against the Flyers, one game after posting a goal and an assist in a 6-3 road loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. He has five points in his past four games.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Robertson said. “It’s a blessing, for sure. I think for me, I try to take advantage of it. They’re just such good, talented players. I think with more minutes played, more pucks on my stick, just more confidence. Nothing’s changed for me as a player or anything, I think it’s just I got more of an opportunity.”
“It’s effort, right?” Toronto coach Craig Berube said of his forward. “You know, if you look back before he scored that goal (against Philadelphia), he had two big blocks in our zone. Just the speed, his shot, are dangerous, obviously, but his work ethic drives everything for me.”
The Maple Leafs announced on Sunday that defenseman Chris Tanev was returning to Toronto following his discharge from a Philadelphia hospital, where he was evaluated overnight after being removed from the ice on a stretcher at 8:23 of the third period on Saturday.
Tanev collided with Flyers forward Matvei Michkov at the Maple Leafs’ blue line. Michkov received an interference penalty. Tanev had just returned from a concussion and had an assist in the game.
Veteran center Scott Laughton could return to the Toronto lineup on Monday from a foot injury.
The Penguins had their eight-game point streak (6-0-2) stopped on Saturday with a 5-2 road loss to the Winnipeg Jets. The Toronto game marks the end of a four-game road trip for Pittsburgh. In contrast to the Maple Leafs’ schedule, the Penguins are playing nine of their first 14 on the road.
The Penguins fell behind Winnipeg 2-0 at 2:43 of the first period and did not recover.
“You get down, you start chasing the game a little bit,” said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who scored one goal. “I think it’s tough to fight that, but you’ve got to find a way to stay patient. You’ve got to understand there’s a lot of hockey left. So, unfortunately, they got to build on that lead.”
The lead reached 4-0 before Crosby scored on a power play at 19:48 of the second period.
“Definitely too many odd-man rushes, which really hurt us,” said Penguins coach Dan Muse. “I think they came for different reasons. … You also have a lot of situations where they’re coming in, the numbers might be even, but they have a lot of space. And when you give a team like that too much space, you’re not going to like the chances you’re giving up.”
