Morgan Rielly scored with just more than five minutes to play in the third period to end a tie and the Toronto Maple Leafs went on to defeat the visiting San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Friday night.
Rielly scored his third goal of the season at 14:31 of the third with a shot from the right circle on a pass from William Nylander. The defenseman started the play in the Toronto end with a breakout pass to Nylander and then joined the rush.
Jake Muzzin, Ilya Mikheyev and Auston Matthews also scored for the Maple Leafs, who had 15 saves from goaltender Frederik Andersen.
Mikheyev scored his fourth goal of the season into an empty net at 19:11 of the third and Matthews scored his ninth at 19:30 with Martin Jones back in goal. Mitch Marner added assists on both late goals for the Maple Leafs
Kevin Labanc scored for the Sharks, who were playing the third game of a five-game road trip.
Jones stopped 25 shots for San Jose.
The Sharks had a 1-0 lead after the first period on Labanc's fourth goal of the season at 10:55. He deflected a shot by Brent Burns from the right point after a turnover by Matthews. Tomas Hertl, who had three assists in the win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, picked up the other assist.
The Sharks survived two consecutive Maple Leafs power plays in the second period.
Matthews left the game and went to the dressing room on concussion protocol after being hit by Brenden Dillon just before a penalty was assessed on Barclay Goodrow. The Maple Leafs center returned for the third period.
The Maple Leafs tied the game at 19:57 of the second when Muzzin scored his second goal of the season. The defenseman moved up to the low slot unchecked and converted Jason Spezza's pass with a wrist shot.
The Maple Leafs again had two consecutive power plays early in the third period with no goal.
Patrick Marleau played in his 1,500th game as a Shark on Friday. He rejoined San Jose for this season after spending the past two seasons with the Maple Leafs.
--Field Level Media
San Jose | Toronto | |
Kevin Labanc 1 | Points | Ilya Mikheyev 2 |
Kevin Labanc 1 | Goals | Ilya Mikheyev 1 |
Brent Burns 1 | Assists | Mitchell Marner 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Martin Jones .885 | Save Percentage | Frederik Andersen .941 |
Martin Jones 23 | Saves | Frederik Andersen 16 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
San Jose | 17 | 1 | 0-1 | 5-5 | 10 | 18 |
Toronto | 27 | 4 | 0-5 | 1-1 | 2 | 19 |