Auston Matthews was held out of the lineup due to an upper-body injury, but the Toronto Maple Leafs responded with a dominant 4-0 victory over the Boston Bruins. Anthony Stolarz recorded his first shutout with the Maple Leafs, while Morgan Rielly, William Nylander, Matthew Knies and Steven Lorentz all scored in the winning effort. Rielly, Nylander and Knies converted on three power play goals, where Knies’ presence on the net-front appears to be paying immediate dividends.

Here are four takeaways from the Maple Leafs’ 4-0 win over the Bruins:

It was incumbent upon Toronto’s best players to elevate their games with Matthews ruled out Thursday morning, and Marner delivered arguably his best performance of the season. Marner recorded primary assists on both of Toronto’s power play goals. He exercised some great patience and rather than shooting into the abyss or forcing a pass, Marner circled back to the point and dished it off to Morgan Rielly, who wired a seeing-eye wrister through a Knies screen for the game’s opening goal.

Marner did some subtle work to keep the puck alive in the offensive zone minutes later and Nylander did the rest for his 10th goal of the season, going straight to the bank versus Jeremy Swayman.

Marner drove Toronto’s makeshift first line alongside Max Domi and Matthew Knies — who authored another terrific performance in his own right. Toronto’s superstar winger was outstanding in all situations, leading the penalty kill, while providing stellar defensive work against a frustrated David Pastrnak. He was dominant in all facets of the game, looked the part of an all-world playmaker and made several plays that didn’t show up on the scoresheet.

“I thought we were really good with our puck play,” Marner said post-game. “I think we were really good up the ice on the forecheck, and obviously special teams came through tonight.”

Marner drew a penalty early in the first period on Bruins defenceman Charlie McAvoy, he set up John Tavares on the doorstep in the third period, and he banked a pass off the boards to David Kampf, setting up his penalty kill partner for a partial breakaway that was stopped. Toronto’s new first line controlled 79.4 percent of the expected goals at 5-on-5 via Natural Stat Trick but Marner and Knies thrived in all scenarios Tuesday and stood out among several players worthy of praise.

Toronto’s power play will no longer be examined with the scrutiny reserved for U.S. presidential candidates, after notching three goals with the man advantage Tuesday. We’ve gone over the first two goals and Knies was rewarded for another terrific game, where he deflected Nylander’s shot for an insurance goal in the third period.

“Sometimes, throwing the pucks to the net, good things happen,” Marner said. “Great tip on Kniesy on the third one there, and good seeing-eye shot from Will. I thought we moved the puck the well. We had good entries and made the most of it.”

Knies created havoc in front of the net all night. He outmuscled Brandon Carlo on Rielly’s opening goal and his physical presence swallowed up Carlo’s attention on Nylander’s power play marker. He displayed all the qualities of an ascendent power forward and was rewarded with a two-point night.

“Just getting pucks on net,” Knies said post-game. “You see with Willy, with both of his shots, tips off their own guy, finds me by the net. Just getting pucks around there, it definitely helps us.”

“I’m a bigger player, so I like to take his eyes. Just make plays there. Just let the skill guys be on the outside. They make plays, they make incredible plays, so I just got to put my stick in a good area and hope they can find me.”

Knies credited John Tavares as someone who he modelled his game around in the net-front role, but he’s added a new dimension in some ways — Tavares has authored a borderline Hall of Fame career in large part due to his terrific work around the net and his natural goal-scoring instincts, whereas Knies is playing a more visceral form of bully ball in some senses.

“These guys have had us for a little bit now so I think we were all a little it frustrated in here and we wanted to play physical and get on them. It sucks losing your best player but I think everyone stepped up and it showed we have a lot of depth in this room and it was a good team effort.”

Anthony Stolarz is pulling away with the No. 1 goaltending role and after completing his first shutout with the Maple Leafs, he could be entering new territory in Toronto, as a bonafide star in net during the Auston Matthews era.

“Massive saves,” Marner said of Stolarz. “He made a couple massive back-door saves coming across the crease. Stolie’s been doing this all year for us in that net. Big kudos to him. It definitely could’ve been a different game or different score. It’s great to see the fans give him the love he deserves, too.”

Stolarz is playing loose in the best sense — he has a penchant for losing his stick evidently, but his superior positioning, along with a cool and calm demeanour is paying off through the opening month and change of the season.

“I think it was our most complete game of the year,” Stolarz said post-game. “Obviously, Boston is a very good team. I knew they were physical. We knew they were going to try and grind us down and we matched their intensity, matched their physicality really well.”

Stolarz has posted a .928 save percentage in nine starts with 7.71 goals saved above expected in all situations, trailing only Lukas Dostal and Igor Shesterkin for the league lead. He made several terrific stops throughout Tuesday’s contest and is quickly morphing into a fan favourite.

“I think going back to last year, the season he had. He played extremely well. He’s been around a while. He’s really learned how to be a really good goalie. He understands what he needs to do in net to be successful,” Berube said of Stolarz post-game.

And if this season ends like last year for Stolarz, there will be statues to be built. One (terrific) game at a time!

Nylander’s terrific all-around performance has been examined here already, but with 10 goals on the season, Toronto’s superstar winger is tied for the NHL lead, at the time of this filing, in a share with Sam Reinhart, Nikita Kucherov, Nico Hischier, and Cole Caufield.

“We all know the skill level is off the charts,” Berube said of Nylander post-game. “But he’s playing a good game all around. Like, he’s not just thinking about offence. He’s been very good defensively, and he’s in the right spots and doing the right things.”

Nylander was buzzing around the ice and was unlucky not to have recorded a hat-trick, after almost jamming home a great feed from Max Pacioretty (another standout) before Toronto’s power play erupted in the second period. He was the engine of Toronto’s second line with Pacioretty and Tavares and the threat of his shot still freezes defences on the power play, which was evident Tuesday evening.

Nylander kept matters in perspective, telling reporters it’s just one game, while noting that he didn’t call bank on his goal after all. He’s playing with the supreme confidence you’d hope to see from a superstar and really put to the centre-wing debate to rest, while making another case for prolonged ice time. It was one hell of a performance from Nylander, in what’s been an understatedly terrific year.

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