It was a Halloween night affair at Rogers Arena as the Toronto Maple Leafs came to town against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. The Leafs, on the heels of an impressive second period, were able to win the game, 4-2. Toronto, with the win, now has an 8-6-2 record, while Vancouver drops to 3-12-1. Here is the recap for the Maple Leafs vs Canucks game.

Game Stories: Meriläinen’s Fourth Consecutive Start, Quillan’s Season Debut

The Canucks gave goaltender Leevi Meriläinen a fourth consecutive start, which is telling about how the team feels about their goaltending. Meriläinen has had his numbers regress back to his career averages after he posted a save percentage above .900 in his first six appearances, but he has given his team a chance every night.

Jacob Quillan was called up to Vancouver after Filip Chytil was placed on injured reserve on Friday and made his season debut tonight against his former team. He was a key piece in the Aatu Räty trade on October 15. Quillan slotted in on the third line alongside Liam Öhgren and Linus Karlsson.

A Relatively Even First Period

The Canucks were spooked to start this game, as Jamie Oleksiak had a blunder at the Toronto blue line, which resulted in a breakaway for William Nylander, giving the Leafs an early lead at 1:21.

After failing to score on their first power play, the Canucks got a breakaway of their own on their second man advantage, as Filip Hronek threw a long pass up the ice to Brock Boeser instead of making the drop pass. It paid off as Boeser was able to capitalize on the breakaway to tie the game. One thing the Canucks need to do more on the power play is make more unpredictable plays, which Hronek did a good job of on the second one. Notably, Elias Pettersson drew both the Toronto penalties in the first period.

Penalties kept coming fast and furious, as the Canucks found themselves shorthanded on a 5-on-3 situation, with penalties to Drew O’Connor and Jamie Oleksiak. With some help from the post, the Canucks were able to kill it off, with tenacious blocking and getting into shot lanes.

1-1 after 20 minutes, with the Canucks outshooting the Leafs 13-9. A good start, sans the early blunder.

Leafs Pounce on Bad Canuck Bounces in Second Period

The Leafs started the second with another early goal, with Auston Matthews putting one home from a sharp angle at 3:47 to make it 2-1. Elias Pettersson’s stick shattered after blocking a shot from Darren Raddysh, giving the Leafs a bit of extra room. Meriläinen would likely want that goal back.

Toronto would keep pressing and have most of the pressure in the second period, and on an extended shift in the Canucks zone, former Canuck Zack MacEwen threw the puck toward the goal. Meriläinen made the initial save, but the puck bounced off his glove, then off the back of Luke Schenn and into the net. An unlucky bounce made it 3-1 for the Leafs.

Overall, the Leafs had a dominant period, creating the bounces for their goals by crashing the net and being aggressive. Toronto outshot Vancouver 13-6 in the second and went to the third with a two-goal lead.

Third Period

Max Sasson now has three third-period goals this season, as he cut the Leafs’ lead to 3-2 with 10:33 to play in the final frame. It was a slick rebound goal off a shot from Brendan Gallagher.

The Canucks had a few more chances in the third, including an unsuccessful power play right after the 3-2 goal. Former Canuck Teddy Blueger would seal the deal with an empty-net goal after Anthony Stolarz tried for a goalie goal.

Final score: 4-2 Toronto.

Stats & Game Flow

The first graph from NaturalStatTrick.com is the shot attempt advantage. The second is the expected goals advantage. The Canucks played a decent game, as they did have a shot attempt advantage, although the Leafs did have the more dangerous opportunities.

Looking Ahead to the Next Game

The Canucks will face off against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. Pacific. It is a rematch of the two teams that played a wild 6-5 game last week. You can catch that game on Sportsnet.