By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support local journalism.
Beck has 2 goals, Predators beat Leafs 9-2
crv5jkzxv

TORONTO (AP) — Taylor Beck could get used to this type of game.

Beck scored twice early as the Nashville Predators routed the Toronto Maple Leafs 9-2 Tuesday night.

Filip Forsberg, Calle Jarnkrok, Roman Josi, Eric Nystrom, Mike Ribeiro, Derek Roy and Colin Wilson all had goals for Nashville (11-4-2). Shea Weber had three assists for Nashville, which led 8-0 in the third period.

"We were good offensively, everyone was making plays," Beck said. "Those games are fun. You know they're not all gonna be like that, but they're fun to play, certainly for the winning team."

Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier lasted just one period, allowing three goals — two by Beck — on 12 shots. He had allowed only three goals combined in his previous two starts. James Reimer started the second.

Pekka Rinne continued his early-season dominance by turning aside 29 shots for his NHL-best 12th win of the season.

Mike Santorelli and Nazem Kadri scored in the third period for Toronto (9-7-2), but the Leafs were lost their third straight. Reimer allowed up six goals on 25 shots.

"When you get beat like that in professional sports, it's embarrassing," Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf said. "To get beat like that in front of your home fans compounds the issue."

Coming off an ugly defeat to the lowly Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, Toronto was flat early against thePredators and couldn't muster much in the way of meaningful offense until the game was far out of reach.

Nashville, meanwhile, scored the game's first goal less than two minutes after the puck dropped.

Beck had his first of the period after he chased down a loose puck in the Maple Leafs' zone and beat Bernier on his blocker with a quick wrister.

Roy scored his first of the season midway through the period before Beck scored his second of the night — and third of the year — to put the normally defensively minded Predators up 3-0 after a period.

Reimer turned aside 13 of 14 Nashville shots in the second, but couldn't stop Nystrom, who went top shelf on a 2-on-1 with 1:15 remaining in the period to make it 4-0.

That's when things went from bad to worse for Reimer and the Maple Leafs.

In a span of just over five minutes, the Predators, who are now 6-2 in eight games this month, scored four times to increase their lead to 8-0.

Toronto coach Randy Carlyle was disgusted by the "awful performance."

"We need a better performance from everybody," he said. "Goaltending is part of that, defense is part of that, offence, all those things combined for the team effort. It was a team effort in the loss tonight."

Wilson scored the game's final goal at 17:28 of the third.