Maple Leafs vs. Oilers: William Nylander Hits 300 Goals as Toronto Routs Edmonton 7-2

Two nights after outlasting the defending Stanley Cup champions in a shootout, the Edmonton Oilers got run out of their own building by a Toronto team that sat at 3-4-2 exactly one week earlier. Hockey is weird like that. Hockey is also, apparently, a lot more fun in Toronto right now.

William Nylander scored twice, the second an empty-netter that was his 300th NHL goal, Anthony Stolarz made 30 saves, and the Maple Leafs routed the Oilers 7-2 at Rogers Place on Saturday. It was Toronto's fourth straight win, and it came on a night when Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl both did their thing and it barely mattered.

The Exes Strike First

If you scripted a revenge tour, you would start with Jack Roslovic. He spent last season in Edmonton, putting up 36 points in 69 games before signing with Toronto as a free agent on July 1, according to NHL.com. At 14:16 of the first, Easton Cowan's shot on a 2-on-1 was stopped by Tristan Jarry, Roslovic got his stick on the rebound, and Edmonton's Jake Walman inadvertently swatted the loose puck into his own net. The goal went to Roslovic, his fifth of the season. Pretty? Not even a little. Counts the same.

Edmonton had already wasted an early power play when Roslovic went off for tripping at 3:33, and that would become a theme.

The second period opened with the Leafs' best stretch. At 5:29, Cowan threaded a pass between Ryan Shea's legs on another 2-on-1, and Auston Matthews beat Jarry blocker side for his ninth goal. Fifty-four seconds later, Troy Stecher hit Kirill Marchenko with a lead pass, kept skating, took the return feed in the slot and went short side. Stecher, another former Oiler, said he had "a lot of friendships on the other side" and admitted "it was nice to get one offensively, for sure."

Things got chippy from there. Vinni Lettieri and Connor Murphy dropped the gloves at 13:11 of the second, and Cowan took a slashing penalty on McDavid 88 seconds later. Edmonton could not convert. The Oilers finally broke through at 19:04, during 4-on-4 play, when McDavid left a drop pass for Draisaitl, who fired through a screen from above the circles. It was 3-1 after 40 minutes, and the building had a pulse again.

The Turning Point: The Power Play That Did Not Come

Zach Hyman nailed the story of the night. "We had a power play a couple times early in the game where if we get one there it maybe changes it," the Oilers forward said, "but they just beat us in every area today."

That is the hinge. Edmonton had two chances with the man advantage while the game was within reach and came away with nothing. Toronto got exactly one power play all night, when Colton Dach hooked Gavin McKenna at 5:45 of the third, and it needed 14 seconds. Darren Raddysh fed Nylander at the left dot, Nylander one-timed it home, and it was 4-1 at 5:59. Hyman called that "a big one when it counted," and he was right. The comeback window slammed shut.

Zack MacEwen made it 5-1 at 13:39 by batting a puck out of the air and over Jarry's shoulder, a goal that belongs on a baseball highlight reel. It was his first NHL goal since Oct. 14, 2024, per NHL.com. Draisaitl answered on a power play at 16:35, one-timing a feed from McDavid behind the net, but Nylander hit the empty net at 17:56 for No. 300, and Lettieri went five-hole from the left circle with 31 seconds left for the 7-2 final. That was Lettieri's first NHL goal since April 1, 2025.

Stars of the Night

Nylander had two goals and reached a milestone that puts him in serious company. According to NHL.com, he got to 300 in 763 games, the fourth-fastest Swedish player in NHL history to do it, behind Tomas Sandstrom (675), Mats Sundin (698) and Filip Forsberg (742). He now has eight goals this season.

Stolarz was the quiet MVP, stopping 30 of 32 shots on a night the Oilers outshot Toronto. "The vibes are great," he said, crediting "an influx of kids that have a lot of energy" for lifting the room.

Matthews scored, Roslovic had a goal and an assist, and Marchenko added two assists. Cowan had the helper on Matthews' goal and started both odd-man rushes that produced Toronto's first two goals. "Penalty killing was great, defense was great, Stolarz was great, and we were able to put the puck in the net when we needed to," Matthews said.

For Edmonton, Draisaitl scored twice and is tied with Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov for the NHL lead with 12 goals, per the AP. He has a six-game goal streak with nine goals in that span, according to NHL.com. McDavid had two assists, extending his season-opening point streak to 11 games with 33 points (eight goals, 25 assists). Those are video game numbers, and they still were not enough.

Stats That Matter

• 32-31: Edmonton's edge in shots. The Oilers won the shot count and lost by five.
• 42-23: Oilers hits. Edmonton threw its weight around, and Toronto kept skating past it.
• 1-for-1: Toronto's power play, which produced the goal that ended the drama. Edmonton went 1-for-3.
• 33: McDavid's points through 11 games, an absurd pace wasted on this night.
• 763: Games it took Nylander to reach 300 goals.

What It Means

Toronto improves to 7-4-2 with 16 points and has won four straight, a stretch that started with a 3-1 win over San Jose on Oct. 19. The Leafs are 3-1-1 on the road and head to Calgary on Monday night. "Everybody played well, the goalie, too," Toronto coach Jim Hiller said.

Edmonton falls to 8-2-1 with 17 points, and its three-game win streak is over. The Oilers are just 3-2-1 at home, and coach Mike Babcock was not in a forgiving mood. "I didn't like anything about tonight," he said. "We didn't have enough guys." He called the loss "a step back" after the shootout win over Carolina. Detroit visits on Monday night.

Vibes Check

Stolarz says the vibes are great, and it is hard to argue when the Leafs walk into a building with McDavid and Draisaitl and leave with a five-goal win, a milestone and two former Oilers on the scoresheet. Matthews put it plainly: "It's not pretty at times, but we stuck with it." One week ago, this team had more losses than wins. Now it looks like the main character.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press and NHL.com; postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com.