Maple Leafs finish off one-goal, three-game sweep against Oilers

EDMONTON -- Jimmy Vesey scored two goals, Jason Spezza had three assists, and the Toronto Maple Leafs completed a three-game sweep of the Edmonton Oilers with a 6-1 win at Rogers Place on Wednesday.

The Maple Leafs fell one goal short of a third straight shutout against the Oilers when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored in the second period.
"I thought it was a really good road trip for our team, Edmonton was red hot coming in and were chasing us in the standings," Vesey said. "To win three games like that so decisively, I think it's a real step of growth for our team."
John Tavares and Zach Hyman each had a goal and assist for Toronto (18-4-2), which outscored Edmonton 13-1 in the three games. Frederik Andersen made 26 saves in his first start since Feb. 20; he missed four games with a lower-body injury.
"I felt pretty good," Andersen said. "I think working hard to get back and obviously in the last few days felt like I was inching closer to get back. Felt pretty good right away, and the guys did a good job of just keeping them to the outside in the first period, especially, and taking it to them a little bit more. That was helpful."

Mike Smith made 26 saves for Edmonton (14-11-0), which came into the series on a five-game winning streak. Edmonton did not have a power play in two of the three games.
"We just didn't win any battles," Oilers center Leon Draisaitl said. "There were so many scrums and we just seemed to never get the puck out of them, and if you don't win battles it's tough to draw penalties."
Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews returned after missing two games with a wrist injury. The center, who leads the NHL with 18 goals, did not have a point but had a game-high seven shots on goal in 18:43 of ice time.
"I felt fine," Matthews said. "I think a little bit rusty, but I think after the first period I felt like I had my legs under me. All in all, it was a great win by the boys, an all-around team effort. Lots of guys contributed tonight. [Andersen] was a beast and this is a big win for us. We'll enjoy this one for sure and we'll move on to [playing the Vancouver Canucks] tomorrow."

Vesey scored at 9:03 of the first period to give Toronto a 1-0 lead. He converted a centering pass from Spezza originally intended for Travis Boyd. It was his first goal in 18 games.
Vesey scored again at 2:57 of the second to make it 2-0, set up by Spezza on a 2-on-0 as the Oilers were caught on a line change.
"We just didn't win enough battles to push the game along," Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said. "Critical battles at the wrong time and coming back and defending hard. Give them credit, they defended hard, they won a lot of battles and they won the games."
Tavares scored on the power play at 4:44 for a 3-0 lead on a setup from Joe Thornton. Ilya Mikheyev made it 4-0 at 7:02, scoring on a backhand on a rebound off a shot from Hyman.
"It's amazing when you win hockey games how everybody finds a way to get involved and that's what I'm a product of right now," Spezza said. "We played good, disciplined hockey here and we have to keep going."

Nugent-Hopkins scored at 13:46 to make it 4-1, ending a shutout streak of 153:46 for the Oilers in the series.
Toronto shut out Edmonton 4-0 on Saturday and 3-0 on Monday.
"Obviously we feel really good about the results and how we handled leads and built leads," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "A lot of really good things came out of this series for us. Coming in, we were playing against a very good team that was as hot or hotter than any team in the NHL and coming with lots of confidence. For us to get results like this is a good and healthy sign."
William Nylander made it 5-1 at 18:22 and Hyman scored on the power play at 10:33 of the third period for the 6-1 final.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who leads the NHL with 40 points (14 goals, 26 assists) did not have a point in the series.
"For whatever reason we couldn't figure those guys out and they had us pretty figured out," McDavid said. "We have to move on to the next one, we have a pretty big one against Calgary (Flames), back to the Battle of Alberta (on Saturday) and then three against an Ottawa (Senators) team that is playing very, very well. This is a big point in our season for us."