‘That’s Deadly’: Maple Leafs’ Distribution Of Goals From Depth Players An Encouraging Sign In Win Against Oilers

EDMONTON — Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Jim Hiller is encouraged. 

It wasn’t just because his stars are scoring, but rather the contributions are coming from everywhere.

William Nylander scored twice to get career goal No. 300 and Auston Matthews also scored. But it was goals from fourth-liner Zack MacEwen and third-liner Vinni Lettieri in Toronto’s 7-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers that most satisfied Hiller.

Especially since it came a game after Brandon Duhaime and Teddy Blueger scored their first goals as Leafs against the Rangers on Thursday.

“That’s two games where you have four guys scoring their first goal as Leafs,” Hiller said. “That to me says something about your team. That says you’ve got depth… It’s not just Matthews. It’s not just Nylander. It’s not just Tavares. It’s going through the lineup.”

Jack Roslovic, who also scored on Saturday in his first game against his former team, described the ideal. 

“That’s deadly… Notoriously Stanley Cup winners, they all have four lines that are deep, and not only contribute to a team game, but they contribute offensively and they’re reliable defensively.” 

He noted all four lines spent time in the offensive zone and looked capable of scoring.

MacEwen, who batted home a rebound for his first Leafs goal at 13:39 of the third, spoke about the energy. 

“The guys are really gelling well. Everybody loves coming to the rink.” 

On his own return from a knee injury that ended last season, he said the confidence was there from the start of training camp. 

“I had a lot to prove to myself and to everybody else… It’s just belief in myself, in the work, in the preparation.”

The Leafs outscored Edmonton 7-2 despite being outshot 32-31. Their even-strength shooting percentage sat near 20 percent while Edmonton’s was near 3 percent. Toronto seemed to generate higher-quality looks from closer range in the third period, when the game opened up. MacEwen logged just 9:39 but finished plus-1. Lettieri’s goal, assisted by Gavin McKenna, came with 31 seconds left.

“As much as I’m happy for those guys, I’m happy for our team that they can feel that there’s other guys there to support, and it’s a pretty good feeling right now.” 

The four-game winning streak has coincided with this distributed scoring. The pressure on the core is reduced when the bottom six can tilt the ice and finish.

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