Maple Leafs 4, Oilers 0
EDMONTON, Alberta -- The Edmonton Oilers like to advertise themselves as a high-octane, highly skilled collection of elite-level talent, which is why it hurt so much when the Toronto Maple Leafs rolled into town Tuesday and beat them at their own game.
For the second time in two weeks.
On the heels of a 6-5 victory on home ice Oct. 12, Toronto dumped Edmonton 4-0 in the rematch at Rexall Place.
In the end, Toronto's best players were simply better than Edmonton's, with Phil Kessel, Nazem Kadri and James van Riemsdyk combining for eight points, while Jordan Eberle, Sam Gagner and Nail Yakupov were all minus 3 after Toronto's first three goals.
James Reimer posted the win and shutout for Toronto.
The Leafs, who led 1-0 after 20 minutes and 3-0 after 40, improved to 9-4-0, while the last-place Oilers have just three wins in their first 14 games.
Kessel's partial breakaway deke at 1:08 was the only scoring of a wild first period in which the two teams threw defense out the window and decided to trade 20 minutes worth of chances. Edmonton out-shot Toronto 14-12, but the 1-0 score held up until the first intermission.
Toronto struck quickly again in the second period, this time at 1:41. Moments after Oilers defenseman Justin Schultz hit the post, Toronto took it the other way on an odd-man rush, with van Riemsdyk putting the finishing touches on Toronto's second of the game.
Kessel made it 3-0 on a brilliant goal-scorer's goal, taking the puck off the end boards and ripping it into the open net from a seemingly impossible angle.
Kessel and van Riemsdyk added to their totals in the third period, setting up Morgan Rielly for the first goal of his career at 6:14.
NOTES: Gagner played his first game of the season after missing a month with a broken jaw suffered in the preseason. In order to make room, Edmonton sent C Anton Lander back to AHL Oklahoma City. ... LW David Perron fell ill before the game, so Edmonton, which didn't have an extra forward on the roster, had to dress seven defensemen instead. ... Richard Bachman earned his second start in a row after a 47-save performance in his Oilers debut. ... Edmonton G Devan Dubnyk is out with a sore ankle. ... Toronto RW Joffrey Lupul was questionable for Tuesday's game with a bruised foot, but he took the pregame skate and declared himself good to go. ... Reimer made his second consecutive start since suffering a head injury Oct. 17 against the Carolina Hurricanes. ... Kessel extended his goal-scoring streak to four games.
