Maple Leafs score six in win against Oilers

TORONTO --Andreas Johnsson scored two goals, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Edmonton Oilers 6-2 at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.

"The puck has been going in on the few shots I've had, so it feels nice," said Johnsson, who has five goals in his past six games. "Obviously, it's not going to continue at the same rate, but I'm going to keep working and try to score some more goals."
Mitchell Marner had a goal and two assists, Patrick Marleau, John Tavares and William Nylander each had a goal and an assist, and Frederik Andersen made 34 saves for the Maple Leafs (39-20-4), who have won three in a row and trail the Boston Bruins by one point for second place in the Atlantic Division.
WATCH: [All Oilers vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers (26-30-7), who have lost 13 of their past 16 games (3-9-4) and trail the Dallas Stars by eight points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Mikko Koskinen allowed four goals on 16 shots before being pulled in the second period. He was replaced by Anthony Stolarz, who made 18 saves in his Edmonton debut.
"Too many little mistakes," Draisaitl said. "We had a really good first, but if you have too many little mistakes against this team, clearly they'll take full advantage of that and that's what they did tonight."

Oilers captain Connor McDavid had one assist and was minus-2 in 21:52 of ice time in his return following a two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of New York Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy.
Draisaitl gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead at 11:06 of the first period after skating around Maple Leafs defenseman Ron Hainsey, cutting into the slot and knocking in his own rebound at the right post.
Marleau tied it 1-1 at 18:02, getting the rebound of Jake Muzzin's point shot at the right side of the crease.
"We had a really good first period," Oilers forward Milan Lucic said. "We came to play, we outworked them, played in the offensive zone and did all the things we were supposed to do, and then it was almost like we decided to go into a skill game instead of a work game in the second period and it cost us big."
Marner gave Toronto a 2-1 lead at 1:09 of the second period on a redirection of Zach Hyman's pass in the slot, and Johnsson extended the lead to 3-1 at 2:26 after he took a pass from Kasperi Kapanen, cut through the slot and beat Koskinen who was moving the other way.

Nylander made it 4-1 at 4:50 when he shot off Koskinen's shoulder from the bottom of the right circle on the power play.
Johnsson scored his second of the game at 8:09 to put Toronto ahead 5-1 on the power play, and Tavares scored 25 seconds into the third period to make it 6-1 on a 5-on-3 power play.
"I feel like we have a lot of confidence out there," Johnsson said. "We know we haven't had the greatest starts lately, but we know if we keep grinding, we'll create opportunities and it seems like once someone starts rolling, the others will follow that guy. Marleau lifted us up with an important goal, and then Marner right away and then after that there was no stopping."
Nugent-Hopkins scored his 20th goal of the season at 16:06 to make it 6-2. Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock challenged the play for goaltender interference, but the call was upheld after a video review.
"We've been playing some pretty strong hockey," Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. "It was a [bad] second period, absolutely, but we have a game tomorrow night (at Ottawa Senators) so we need to park this one and get back to the way we played in the first period. We can sit here and whine and complain but at the end of the day, 7 o'clock tomorrow we have another game and that's where our focus needs to head to."

They said it

"We came with the right attitude and the right game in the first period, and then we allow one or two goals in the second period to deflate us and didn't work in that second period, especially for the last 10 minutes. It's unfortunate when you're playing on the big stage. The game is on coast to coast, you don't want to come out feeling like this losing 6-2. It's disheartening for sure." -- Oilers forward Milan Lucic
"It's happened a couple of games now where we haven't been happy with the start we've had, but our goalies have done a great job keeping us in every game. We regroup and know how much better we can play, and in the second and third we've done that. Now it's just making sure we start the first the exact same way." -- Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner

Need to know

The Maple Leafs were without defenseman Jake Gardiner, who is week to week with back injury. … Maple Leafs defenseman Travis Dermott left the game with a shoulder injury at 10:07 of the third period after taking a hit from Oilers forward Brad Malone along the sideboards. He is considered week to week. … Martin Marincin will be recalled from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. He and defenseman Justin Holl will dress on Thursday against the New York Islanders and defenseman Igor Ozhiganov will be a scratch. … Stolarz was acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 15.

What's next

Oilers:At the Ottawa Senators on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; TSN5, RDS, SNW, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs:At the New York Islanders on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, MSG+, TSN4, NHL.TV)