Stolarz, Leafs blank Bruins minus injured Matthews

TORONTO – Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 4-0 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists as Toronto (7-5-2) connected three times on the power play. William Nylander and Matthew Knies added a goal and an assist each. Mitch Marner had two assists of his own. Steven Lorentz rounded out the scoring into the empty net.

The Leafs played without captain Auston Matthews, who is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Jeremy Swayman made 23 stops for Boston (6-7-1), which was coming off consecutive weekend shutouts of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

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Toronto’s porous 31st-ranked power play scored for the second time in as many games at 8:44 of the second period when Rielly fired through a screen before Nylander banked in his team-leading 10th goal of the season on another man advantage 1:14 later for a 2-0 lead.

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The Bruins entered the game 8-0-0 in the regular season against their Atlantic Division rival dating back to Jan. 14, 2023.

TAKEAWAYS

Toronto: The NHL’s second-worst power play entered 4-for-40 in 2024-25, but connected three times without its best player.

Boston: After blanking the Flyers (3-0) and the Kraken (2-0), the Bruins’ shutout streak was snapped at 156 minutes 47 seconds when Rielly scored his fourth of the campaign.

KEY MOMENT

With the score tied 0-0 in the second, Swayman initially tried to freeze the puck before changing his mind. That forced Boston defenceman Nikita Zadorov into an interference penalty, which in turn led to Toronto’s first goal.

KEY STAT

The Leafs improved to 36-19-2 without Matthews — the No. 1 pick at the 2016 NHL draft — in the regular season all-time.

UP NEXT

Bruins: Open a two-game homestand Thursday against the Calgary Flames.

Maple Leafs: Play the second of four straight at Scotiabank Arena on Friday against the Detroit Red Wings.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

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