Nylander nets hat trick as Leafs douse Flames 6-3

Toronto Maple Leafs' Bobby McMann, centre, celebrates his goal as Calgary Flames goalie Dustin Wolf reacts during second period NHL hockey action in Calgary on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY — Calgary-born William Nylander notched his second career hat trick on Tuesday as the Toronto Maple Leafs completed a sweep of Alberta with a 6-3 victory over the Calgary Flames.

With nine goals in his last eight games Nylander has reached the 33-goal mark, second in the NHL behind Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers, who has 37.

It was Nylander’s first hat trick in eight years to the day.

John Tavares, Bobby McMann and Matthew Knies also scored for Toronto (32-19-2), which climbs to within one point of the Atlantic Division-leading Florida Panthers. The Leafs have two games in hand. Auston Matthews had three assists.

Matt Coronato, Yegor Sharangovich, and Joel Farabee, with his first as a Flame, scored for Calgary (26-20-7). The Flames opened the night two points up on the Vancouver Canucks for the second wild-card playoff berth in the Western Conference.

Starting his fourth game in a row and his eighth in the team’s last nine, Joseph Woll made 23 saves to improve to 19-10-0.

At the opposite end, rookie Dustin Wolf had 24 stops. He falls to 19-10-2.

The game got off to an odd start with both teams scoring what they thought was the game-opening goal, only for both to be taken off the scoreboard.

At 6:30 of the first period, Tavares batted a rebound out of the air and past Wolf, but upon review, it was waved off for being a high-stick.

Just 1:39 later, it was Farabee jamming in a loose puck in the crease. But Toronto challenged the call and upon review, the goal was overturned for goaltender interference.

TAKEAWAYS

Maple Leafs: Forward Mitch Marner (lower-body injury), fourth in the NHL in scoring, missed his first game of the season. His absence did not hurt Toronto’s power play. After going 2-for-2 with the extra man in Edmonton, the visitors scored on their first two chances against the Flames on the way to finishing 2-for-4. At five on five, Max Domi was inserted into Marner’s usual spot on the top line alongside Knies and Matthews, who appeared in his 600th NHL game.

Flames: The goals by Coronato and Sharangovich came on extended two-man advantages as Calgary’s power play remained red hot. The Flames finished 2-for-5 with the extra man to improve to 9-for-24 over the past seven games.

KEY MOMENT

Tied 2-2 in the second, Toronto took the lead for good at 12:28 when McMann, breaking in on a 2-on-1 with Steven Lorentz, elected to keep the puck and he ripped a shot past Wolf high on his blocker side for his 16th goal. The Leafs opened a two-goal cushion six minutes later on another odd-man rush, this time a 3-on-1, with Nylander beating Wolf on his glove side.

KEY STAT

It’s been feast or famine of late for the Leafs offensively. In five of their last 10 games, they’ve been held to one or zero goals. In the other five, they’ve scored four or more.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Visit the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

Flames: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2025.