Woll, Nylander help Maple Leafs shut out Canucks, run point streak to 9

TORONTO -- Joseph Woll made 29 saves for his second shutout of the season, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-0 at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

Woll, who has four NHL shutouts, is 5-0-1 in his past six decisions.

“A solid game for us all the way through,” Woll said. “Big marks to our penalty-killing, especially our defense with some big blocks out there. It was a pretty clean game by us defensively and obviously great offensively. We won the special teams battle. It was a clean game for us all the way through.”

William Nylander had a goal and two assists in his return after missing six games with a lower-body injury for the Maple Leafs (22-15-7), who are 7-0-2 in their past nine games and have won seven straight at home.

“It’s not fun sitting out and watching but the team was playing great, so it was fun watching them play great, which made it good,” Nylander said.

“We’ve just taken it to another level. Everyone has been more connected and I think that’s a big factor too.”

Thatcher Demko allowed three goals on six shots in the first period for the Canucks (16-23-5) before being replaced by Kevin Lankinen (16 saves) to start the second period. Vancouver coach Adam Foote said the reason for Demko’s removal was a lower-body injury that will be evaluated in the next couple of days.

The Canucks are 0-4-2 in their past six.

“They capitalized on some mistakes we made, odd-man rushes,” Foote said. “If you’re going to give those guys at this level too many of those or too many breakaways, things like that, that’s what’s going to happen.”

Matias Maccelli put Toronto up 1-0 at 8:03 of the first period with a power-play goal when he redirected a backdoor pass from Nylander at the top of the crease.

“Obviously it’s nice to get touches (on the power play), get out there,” Maccelli said. “I don’t know who doesn’t want to play [on the] power play. It’s always fun to get out there and try to score, help the team win and get those important goals.”

Max Domi made it 2-0 at 16:31. After he took a cross-ice pass from Troy Stecher, he shot low blocker from just to the right of the left face-off dot.

Nylander pushed the lead to 3-0 at 19:40. He took a pass from Steven Lorentz at the offensive blue line, got around Canucks defenseman Marcus Pettersson and cut across the top of the crease before tucking a backhand past Demko’s outstretched right pad.

Toronto went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill in the first period and 6-for-6 for the game.

“Our penalty kill was really good. It had to be early obviously with the penalties in the first period,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “Our goalie was solid and our power play got us an early goal, so our special teams were good. Overall effort, it was a good win.”

The Maple Leafs extended the lead to 4-0 at 13:07 of the second period. Nylander kept the puck in at the blue line and pushed it ahead to John Tavares, who skated in alone and shot past Lankinen’s glove to end a six-game goal drought.

“That was a great job (by Nylander) reading the play, his timing, his awareness of all those things. That’s why he’s an elite player,” Tavares said. “He just makes great plays, whether it’s in open ice when he has a lot of time and space or if it’s just keeping pucks alive and forechecking. His ability to understand the play, the way it develops and how to read it and make those plays, is exceptional.”

Nicholas Robertson shot from the slot on the power play with 14 seconds left in the third period to make it 5-0.

“You just keep going, you keep teaching,” Foote said. “Unfortunately, tonight we had some mistakes they capitalized on. Not normal mistakes for us, but it’s a young group. They go through some bumps in the road where you have to learn the hard way.”

NOTES: Maple Leafs forward Scott Laughton was 17-for-22 on face-offs (77.3 percent) and is 36-for-42 (85.7 percent) in the past two games. He went 19-for-20 (95.0 percent) in a 2-1 overtime win at the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. “It’s a great weapon,” Berube said. “We’re a good face-off team, but he’s been on a roll, especially on the penalty kill. He starts on his off side a lot but he wins them a lot, which is huge, and gets the puck down the ice and kills momentum of the power play a little bit. He’s been really effective.” … Domi’s goal was his 100th point (22 goals, 78 assists) with Toronto. … Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe had one shot on goal and played 17:58 in his return after missing two games with a lower-body injury.