Nylander scores twice in Maple Leafs’ 4-1 victory over Kraken

TORONTO — William Nylander scored twice, Joseph Woll made 24 saves and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Thursday night.

Matthews Knies and Auston Matthews, with a bank-shot empty-netter, also scored to help Toronto improve to 6-4-1. Matthews also had an assist.

Eeli Tolvanen scored for Seattle (5-5-1). Joey Daccord stopped 26 shots.

Knies opened the scoring late in the first period, and Nylander scored twice in the second.

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.

Takeaways

Kraken: Already missing Vince Dunn because of an upper-body injury, Seattle was down another defenseman with Brandon Montour back in Seattle for the birth of his second child.

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

Key moment

The Kraken iced the puck with less than 10 seconds to go in the first with the game scoreless. 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

John Tavares became the fifth Maple 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 an assist on Nylander’s first goal.

Up next

Seattle plays the second of five straight away from home on Saturday night at Ottawa.

————

MAPLE LEAFS 4, KRAKEN 1

Seattle                0             0             1—1

Toronto                               1             2             1—4

First Period—1, Toronto, Knies 6 (Marner, Matthews), 19:55. Penalties—Matthews, TOR (Tripping), 5:31; Beniers, SEA (Holding), 6:53.

Second Period—2, Toronto, Nylander 7 (Rielly, Tavares), 1:39. 3, Toronto, Nylander 8 (Pacioretty, Tavares), 9:24. Penalties—Knies, TOR (Holding Stick), 4:02; Nylander, TOR (Closing Hand on the Puck), 16:47.

Third Period—4, Seattle, Tolvanen 4 (Beniers, Evans), 16:32. 5, Toronto, Matthews 5, 18:17 (en). Penalties—Larsson, SEA (Interference), 8:36.

Shots on Goal—Seattle 11-9-5—25. Toronto 14-5-10—29.

Power-play opportunities—Seattle 0 of 3; Toronto 0 of 2.

Goalies—Seattle, Daccord 4-2-1 (28 shots-26 saves). Toronto, Woll 1-1-0 (25-24).

A—18,181 (18,819). T—2:23.

Referees—Eric Furlatt, Michael Markovic. Linesmen—Jonathan Deschamps, Derek Nansen.