{"id":214406,"date":"2025-10-15T04:51:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T04:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/214406\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T04:51:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T04:51:16","slug":"auston-matthews-scores-a-pair-william-nylander-gets-on-the-board-as-toronto-maple-leafs-down-nashville-predators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/214406\/","title":{"rendered":"Auston Matthews scores a pair, William Nylander gets on the board as Toronto Maple Leafs down Nashville Predators"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 John Tavares<\/a> and Oliver Ekman-Larsson<\/a> each had a goal and two assists as the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> snapped a two-game slide by downing the Nashville Predators<\/a> 7-4 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Auston Matthews<\/a> had a pair of goals, including one into an empty net, while Jake McCabe<\/a> and Bobby McMann<\/a> provided the rest of the offence for Toronto (2-2-0). Cayden Primeau<\/a> made 26 saves. William Nylander<\/a> added another empty-netter to go along with two assists. Matthew Knies<\/a> chipped in three helpers.<\/p>\n

Nick Perbix<\/a>, with a goal and an assist, Michael McCarron<\/a>, Erik Haula<\/a> and Roman Josi<\/a> replied for Nashville (2-1-1). Justus Annunen<\/a> stopped 22 shots in battle of backup netminders. Ozzy Wiesblatt<\/a> and Adam Wilsby<\/a> had two assists each.<\/p>\n

Plucked off waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> last week with Joseph Woll<\/a> away from the Leafs due to a family matter, Primeau registered his first NHL victory since Nov. 27, 2024, with the Montreal Canadiens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Toronto was coming off Monday afternoon\u2019s 3-2 home loss to the Detroit Red Wings<\/a>, while Nashville picked up a 4-1 matinee victory over the Senators in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

Tied 2-2 in Tuesday\u2019s second period, the Leafs pushed ahead when Tavares scored his first goal of the season by banging home a loose puck after a pretty give-and-go between Nylander and Ekman-Larsson.<\/p>\n

TAKEAWAYS<\/p>\n

Leafs: Anthony Stolarz<\/a> started Toronto\u2019s first three games in net \u2014 an opening-night victory over Montreal followed by back-to-back losses to Detroit.<\/p>\n

Predators: Head coach Andrew Brunette<\/a>\u2018s group is off to a much better start in 2025-26 after beginning last season with five straight regulation losses before finally picking up their first victory.<\/p>\n

KEY MOMENT<\/p>\n

Toronto head coach Craig Berube<\/a> called a timeout after Nashville scored goals 44 seconds apart in the second period to erase a 2-0 deficit. Tavares restored the lead just under five minutes later before McMann made it 4-2 through 40 minutes.<\/p>\n

KEY STAT<\/p>\n

Leafs rookie Easton Cowan<\/a> picked up an assist on Matthews\u2019 goal that made it 5-2 for the winger\u2019s first NHL point.<\/p>\n

UP NEXT<\/p>\n

Predators: Visit the Montreal Canadiens<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Leafs: Host the New York Rangers<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2025.<\/p>\n

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 John Tavares and Oliver Ekman-Larsson each had a goal and two assists as the Toronto Maple…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-214406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}