TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (18-8-2 – 38 Points) vs.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (17-5-4 – 38 Points)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2021
1 2 3 FINAL
TAMPA BAY 2 2 1 5
TORONTO 2 0 1 3
ON THE SCORESHEET
- Ondřej Kaše scored on a Maple Leafs power play opportunity at 1:44 of the first period. Kaše scored
his second goal of the game at 9:36 of the third period. Kaše posted his first multi-goal game of the
season and is currently on a three-game point streak (3G, 1A). - William Nylander scored on a Toronto power play opportunity at 19:53 of the first period. Nylander
recorded his 12th goal of the season. - John Tavares posted the primary assist on Kaše’s first goal of the game. Tavares also registered the
secondary assist on Kaše’s second goal of the game. Tavares has recorded 17 assists this season. - Morgan Rielly recorded the secondary assist on Kaše’s first goal of the game. Rielly posted his 20th
assist of the season. Rielly has registered nine assists through the last five games. - Auston Matthews registered the primary assist on Nylander’s power play goal. Matthews recorded
his 12th assist of the season. Matthews extended his point streak to eight games (10G, 4A). - Jake Muzzin posted the primary assist on Kaše’s second goal of the game. Muzzin recorded his
eighth assist of the season.
SHOTS ON GOAL (5-on-5 in brackets)
1st 2nd 3rd TOTAL
TAMPA BAY 9 (6) 9 (9) 9 (7) 27 (22)
TORONTO 12 (10) 15 (15) 11 (7) 38 (32)
SHOT ATTEMPTS (5-on-5 in brackets)
1st 2nd 3rd TOTAL
TAMPA BAY 16 (13) 17 (17) 15 (10) 48 (40)
TORONTO 22 (19) 28 (28) 20 (14) 70 (61)
ON HOME ICE - The Maple Leafs are 11-4-1 at home this season.
- Toronto’s all-time record is 57-36-2-7 in 102 games against the Tampa Bay Lightning and 30-19-1-3
in 53 games played in Toronto. - Toronto is 10-5-1 against the Eastern Conference this season and 6-2-0 against the Atlantic Division
this season.
MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS
Shots 4 (Muzzin, Kaše, Liljegren, Rielly)
Shot Attempts 8 (Kaše)
Faceoff Wins 17 (Tavares)
Faceoff Win Percentage 100% (Kerfoot, Nylander – 1 won, 0 lost)
Hits 7 (Rubīns)
Blocked Shots 3 (Holl)
Takeaways 2 (Muzzin, Kerfoot, Steeves)
TOI 25:10 (Muzzin)
Power Play TOI 1:01 (Kaše, Matthews, Rielly, Nylander, Tavares)
Shorthanded TOI 3:16 (Muzzin)
Shifts 28 (Nylander)
5-on-5 Shot Attempt Percentage 81.25% (Liljegren – 26 for, 6 against)
RECORD WHEN… - The Maple Leafs were 2-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill tonight.
- Toronto is 13-2-0 when scoring the first goal of the game.
- The Maple Leafs are 6-4-0 when tied after one period and 2-8-0 when trailing after two periods.
- Toronto is 12-4-2 when outshooting their opponent.
- The Maple Leafs are 2-2-0 in Thursday games.
OF NOTE… - Morgan Rielly skated in his 600th career NHL game. Rielly becomes the 21st skater and eighth
defenceman to reach the 600-games played mark with the Maple Leafs. Per NHL Stats, only two
defensemen had more points than Rielly (62-266—328) through their 600th game with the Maple
Leafs franchise (NHL debut or otherwise): Borje Salming (105-400—505) and Tomas Kaberle (61-
288—349). Of note, Ian Turnbull (112-302—414) also had 414 points in 580 career games with
Toronto. - For the second consecutive game, Kristiāns Rubīns led the team in hits. He recorded seven hits
during tonight’s game and four hits during his debut, Dec. 7 vs. CBJ. - Auston Matthews was on the ice for a team-high 29 Toronto shot attempts-for at 5-on-5.
- Timothy Liljegren finished the game with a team-high 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 81.25
percent (26 for, 6 against).
UPCOMING GAMES:
Dec. 11 Leafs vs. Chicago Scotiabank Arena 7:00 pm ET
Dec. 14 Leafs at Edmonton Rogers Place 9:00 pm ET
Dec. 16 Leafs at Calgary Scotiabank Saddledome 9:00 pm ET
Dec. 18 Leafs at Vancouver Rogers Arena 7:00 pm ET
Dec. 19 Leafs at Seattle Climate Pledge Arena 9:00 pm ET
Dec. 23 Leafs vs. St. Louis Scotiabank Arena 2:00 pm ET
POSTGAME QUOTES:
HEAD COACH SHELDON KEEFE
On tonight’s game and turnovers:
Sheldon Keefe: “That pretty much sums it up. You can’t make those kind of plays and spot them three
goals at 5-on-5. We’ll give them the powerplay goal but the 5-on-5 goals are inexcusable, those are gifts
against a team like that. We talked about it before the game starts and then you give that team and
goaltender that kind of support and it’s going to be tough to climb out of. I didn’t think we played a terrible
game by any means but our guys worked hard, we had our chances but you just can’t give that type of
stuff up. So, decision making, execution with the puck was very poor and it cost us.”
ONDŘEJ KAŠE
On tonight’s game:
Ondřej Kaše: “Yeah tough game for us. We made so many turnovers so that’s where I feel we lost the
game.”
On playing back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions:
Ondřej Kaše: “Yeah great team, they’ve won Two Stanley cups last few years so it’s a very good team…
but we lost today so we need to make sure we are ready for next game.”
JUSTIN HOLL
On tonight’s loss and turnovers:
Justin Holl: “Yeah I think so, we kept them fast too often and gave them too many rushes for free so it’s
something that has been creeping into our game over the last couple of games and it’s something when
we’re doing really well when we were on that win streak so we know we’re capable and just going to have
to crack that.”
On if his pairing with Muzzin:
Justin Holl: “Tonight obviously we didn’t love giving up the early goals and everything like that but like I
said during that stretch I think we went plus 10 through I don’t know how many games it was but you’ve
got to keep a long term approach to it and it’s frustrating to have a game like this but that’s just
professional sports.”
WILLIAM NYLANDER
On tonight’s loss and facing Vasilevskiy:
William Nylander: “We weren’t getting in front of their net. I think he was making some pretty easy saves
from time-to-time. I think that was probably the difference and we had a few neutral zone turnovers which
obviously bit us so I think that was probably the game pretty much.”
On his goal tonight:
William Nylander: “I just turned around and shot it. I just got lucky, there was nothing or no real thought
behind it.”
JACK CAMPBELL
On tonight’s game:
Jack Campbell: “I thought we controlled the game for the most part but I’ve got to make a couple more
saves and get a win.”
On facing back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions:
Jack Campbell: “Yeah they’re obviously a great team and they’ve proved it for so long now but it’s fun to
play them but need to make a couple more saves.”
The view from left field 