Kane, meanwhile, wanted to stick it to Bunting for his penchant to cry foul to the officials.
“I think fighting is a great deterrent of those kinds of plays. It just prevents guys from answering the bell and he’s a perfect example of that.”
Just as Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares were involved in the scoring, they also wound up in the box in a game as intense as its billing.
“It’s good, both teams are invested in the game,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe noted. “I didn’t think it was that physical, it got emotional at different times, but I thought our guys initiated well and responded well.”
“I think so,” Keefe said of his top guns seeking revenge. “I wanted to go with a Matthews – McDavid match up straight up (Matthews winning the game-opening draw). “This was an opportunity for us to take the puck out of (McDavid’s) hands and play on offence and try to make him defend.
“I thought those guys were really focused, whether it was the Oilers on a Saturday night and all that. And we got it handed to us pretty good in Edmonton. That was fresh in our minds.”
Despite the big names on the board, plugger Noel Acciari opened and closed the scoring for the Leafs and was given the wrestler’s belt as game MVP.
As much as McDavid and Leon Draisaitl light it up for his Edmonton Oilers, Zach Hyman knew what the Leafs were capable of, having been on the ground floor of the rebuild with Matthews, Nylander and Marner.
“They’re no different than our guys,” Hyman said. “When you feel good, you get a couple of goals and you’re searching for more.”
What those Leafs have added since Hyman left is defensive acumen to round out their games. That was on display with Marner generating two goals on turnovers deep in the Oilers end. It’s why Edmonton got Mattias Ekholm to bolster their back line for the playoffs.
“There was a lot of talent on display,” Hyman said. “The fans are happy in Toronto tonight, we’re obviously not. But we’ll get past it.”
“A Swiss army knife type guy. He’s hard to play against, but easy to play with. That’s a high compliment for a heart and soul player. Great person, great teammate, he drives a lot of offence on our team, does work for a lot of people. Phenomenal addition to our organization.”
THE BIG 3-0
Two Leafs reached their 30th goals of the season on Saturday, Tavares and Matthews, the sixth time in the captain’s NHL career, while Matthews has done it in all of his seven seasons here.
And Marner moved into 10th place in franchise points with his third-period assist, up to 538, passing Rick Vaive.
LOOSE LEAFS
Matt Murray looked shaky in the early going, even if one of three goals was by McDavid. But he made a great tip save on Warren Foegele to keep the Leafs in it. “There was still a lot of hockey to play,” Keefe said of not panicking … Justin Holl was beaten on a Kane wrapround, but came out of the game plus 1, third among all Toronto defencemen at plus 16 behind Mark Giordano and Timothy Liljegren … Keefe said defenceman Luke Schenn’s wife delivered her baby Friday and the process of getting him back to Toronto from Vancouver was underway … Logan Shaw had the overtime winner for the Marlies in a 3-2 home decision over Hartford on Saturday. Goalie Joseph Woll improved to 16-1-0 in the AHL with a .933 save percentage. Newly acquired forward Radim Zohorna, acquired for Dryden Hunt from Calgary, added his first goal as a Marlie.
