Nylander has 3 assists, Maple Leafs defeat Sharks for 4th straight win

TORONTO -- William Nylander had three assists, one day after signing an eight-year contract for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 7-1 win against the San Jose Sharks at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

Nylander, who leads the Maple Leafs in scoring with 57 points (21 goals, 36 assists) in 38 games, signed an eight-year, $92 million contract ($11.5 million average annual value) on Monday that will begin next season. He has at least one point in 34 of 38 games this season.

“Obviously, it was special,” Nylander said of the ovation he received from the crowd after being announced in the starting lineup. “First game since signing the contract, so it was nice.

“We’re just committing to playing tight defensively, not turning over the puck and making smart plays to avoid giving up chances, and obviously, [Martin] Jones is playing really well.”

Mitchell Marner had two goals and two assists, Jake McCabe had a goal and two assists and Martin Jones made 22 saves for the Maple Leafs (21-10-7), who have won four in a row.

Jones has started each of Toronto’s past five games and has allowed only three goals in the past four.

“We are (dialed in) for sure,” Jones said. “We’re not giving teams a lot of time and space in the defensive zone, everything seems to be coming straight on in front of me, so it’s been a huge help. I think we have been really good in front of the net as well.”

Henry Thrun scored his first NHL goal for the Sharks (9-29-3), who have lost 12 in a row. Kaapo Kahkonen allowed four goals on 20 shots before being replaced by Mackenzie Blackwood, who made 22 saves.

“Arguably our worst game of the year from start to finish,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “Every facet of the game really. Not one guy really had their game tonight and it certainly showed.

“It’s disappointing. As I said after the game Saturday (a 4-1 loss to the Maple Leafs), we felt going into the game, even though we weren’t winning hockey games, we felt really good about our effort and our compete, and the last two games it hasn’t been there… Losing is hard, I don’t care what anyone tells you. Guys can stand in front of this camera, and everybody asks questions and you want answers and I get it, everybody has a job to do, but boy, is losing [really] hard. It wears on you.”

Toronto took a 1-0 lead at 16:48 of the first period when Morgan Rielly got behind Sharks forward Fabian Zetterlund inside the blue line and scored off a pass by Nylander.

“I was just hoping Willy didn’t turn it over or else we were in one,” Rielly said.

Auston Matthews made it 2-0 at 17:22 on the power play with a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle.

Marner extended the lead to 3-0 just 54 seconds into the second period when he deflected a point shot to the right of Kahkonen.

Pontus Holmberg scored off the rush with a one-handed shot over the glove for his first goal of the season to make it 4-0 at 2:06.

“He’s a [heck] of a player,” Marner said. “He’s always above the puck and he seems annoying to play against, which you love to have on your team. He’s very strong on the puck, wins a lot of battles, comes out of the corner with the puck a lot of times, so you see his strength on the play there. It’s a [heck] of a goal.”

Thrun cut it to 4-1 at 7:21 on the power play with his first NHL goal in his 24th game.

McCabe put Toronto up 5-1 at 1:27 of the third period when he one-timed a pass from Marner from the right circle.

The Maple Leafs scored twice during a double-minor penalty for high-sticking against Sharks forward Scott Sabourin at 3:07.

Marner made it 6-1 at 4:00, poking a loose puck over the line, and Nicholas Robertson, who had been a healthy scratch the previous two games, stretched it to 7-1 at 5:54 with a shot from the right circle.

“We’ve spent way less time in our zone in this last stretch, way less time,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We’ve moved the puck out way more efficiently. We’ve defended hard and we haven’t made the big mistake. At times, we get up in games and then we allow teams to score at inopportune times or we put ourselves in a bad spot. But we haven’t made those mistakes. We haven’t been perfect, but we certainly haven’t given [opponents] anything for free.”

The Sharks are 0-6-1 in their past seven road games and 3-17-1 away from home this season.

“You can see when teams are rolling, they feel pretty good and they get in a groove, and you can see with us right now when it’s the opposite, you feel a little less confident, tight games you are gripping your stick a little tighter because you know how bad we need the win. And the last couple games, I think we felt that for sure,” Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said.

NOTES: Marner passed Frank Mahovlich for seventh on the Maple Leafs franchise points list with 598 points (185 goals, 413 assists) and second in career four-point games (16). … Matthews surpassed George Armstrong for ninth-most power-play points (163) in franchise history. … Sabourin played 11:12 in his season debut for the Sharks after being recalled from San Jose of the American Hockey League on Monday.