That\u2019s how far one must track back to find a night (Nov. 5) in which the\u00a0reeling<\/a>\u00a0Leafs got the job done with such relative ease. When their offence clicked to the tune of five-plus goals and they sealed up victory without needing nail-biting overtime heroics.<\/p>\n Postgame music blaring from the dressing room (\u201cCome On Eileen\u201d), Nick Robertson playfully mimicking Dennis Hildeby<\/a>\u2019s soft-spoken Swedish, and loud high-fives\u2026 ah, this is what winning sounds like.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it\u2019s been a long time coming, right?\u201d Max Domi<\/a> said. \u201cThis just does nothing but build a lot of confidence for our group, and we needed it. That\u2019s a good team over there, and we had everyone going tonight. So, huge win.\u201d<\/p>\n Skating in front of their most enthusiastic and voluminous road crowd all season \u2014\u00a0\u201cGo! Leafs! Go!\u201d\u00a0chants reigned supreme from the heavy splattering of blue across PPG Paints Arena \u2014 the Maple Leafs cruised to a 7-2 wire-to-wire romp over the Pittsburgh Penguins, despite being outshot 35-23.<\/p>\n Granted, they may not have dominated the run of play. But they dominated on the scoreboard and in feel-good storylines.<\/p>\n \u201cNice to score a couple goals, and win with quite a big lead, which we haven\u2019t done in a long time,\u201d William Nylander<\/a> said in a fashionable toque. \u201cLines were clicking and being connected. From the D to the forwards, everything was just flowing better.\u201d<\/p>\n Red-hot Ekman-Larsson solved Penguins backup Arturs Silvos with Toronto\u2019s first puck on net, and by the time the Leafs had registered eight more his way, three more had smashed twine.\u00a0<\/p>\n Silvos, who couldn\u2019t track the play if you spotted him an AirTag and a couple hound dogs, got chased before the game was 25 minutes old, thwacked his goal stick down the tunnel, and forced Tristan Jarry to take the crease for the second time in less than 24 hours.<\/p>\n Unless you\u2019re the Maple Leafs, who had as many redemption tales as goal celebrations:<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0Dakota Joshua<\/a>,\u00a0scratched Wednesday<\/a>, flattened Matt Dumba with a tone-setting hit in open ice, scored in tight, and drew a penalty that resulted in a hard-to-come-by power-play goal.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s my goal every night,\u201d Joshua said. \u201cTo finally have a game like that feels nice.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s obviously been not ideal to this point. So, to get that result means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n To Joshua\u2019s teammates, too.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see a guy that\u2019s competing like he was, and winning every battle and drawing penalties, scoring goals \u2014 he really did it all\u201d Domi said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s great to see.\u201d<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0Domi, scratched Saturday for the first time in his Leafs tenure, responded to his coach\u2019s challenge with two primary assists and nice flashes of top-line chemistry.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what happens when you get scratched,\u201d Nylander said. \u201cYou come back with maybe a little bit more fire. He did a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n Berube agreed: \u201cMax was a lot better tonight. Made some nice plays. But he was engaged in the game, just on some forehecks, taking the body, winning the puck battle. Just defensively, working back to our zone, breaking plays up. He was good.\u201d<\/p>\n How difficult was it for Domi to sit one out?<\/p>\n \u201cNot gonna answer anything about that,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s behind us now.\u201d<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0Nylander, a surprise scratch due to illness Saturday, got over his sickness with the quickness and added to his point total.<\/p>\n \u201cWilly\u2019s a gamer. He\u2019s not gonna miss too many games if he can help it,\u201d Berube said. \u201cHe gutted through it, and I thought he did a lot of good things with the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.<\/p>\n Latest episode<\/a><\/p>\n 4.\u00a0Bobby McMann<\/a>, who\u2019d been mired in another six-game point drought, scored the winner, added an assist and had his legs churning.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0Robertson, who\u2019d been demoted to the fourth line, snuffed his five-game point drought with one of the prettiest steal-and-snipes you\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n 6.\u00a0Third-string goalie Dennis Hildeby \u2014 who\u2019d been solid but without run support in his five previous appearances \u2014 finally secured his first win of the season.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time we needed a save, he came up with one. They had a few ice tilts in their favour, and he stood tall for us back there,\u201d Joshua said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s grown, in a year, a lot,\u201d Berube added. \u201cGot a good future ahead of him.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"32](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/32-Thoughts-podcast-Elliotte-Friedman-Kyle-Bukauskas-640x360.jpg\")
32 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/p>\n