Right winger Wayne Simmonds hoists his stick and arms after scoring a goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs against San Jose Sharks goaltender James Remier at SAP Center in San Jose on Fri Nov 26, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks (10-9-1) fell 4-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs (15-6-1) in San Jose Friday. Toronto goals came from William Nylander, Wayne Simmonds, Auston Matthews and John Tavares. Joseph Woll made 34 saves for the win. Nick Bonino scored for San Jose and James Reimer made 13 saves on 17 shots and Adin Hill made 16 saves in the loss.

Sharks Head Coach Bob Boughner said: “I just thought that they were the better team, we didn’t look as fresh as we have in the last couple games. I didn’t think we had the same pop. You gotta be at your best to beat one of these teams like this.”

Sharks Captain, Logan Couture said his teams needs to get back to shooting the puck:

“I mean we had success earlier in the season. We shot the puck with traffic and right now maybe we’re looking for seams too early, we’re getting too cute with the puck. I think if we get back to just blasting it from the flanks and from the middle of the ice, we ‘re going to find rebound goals or dirty goals.”

William Nylander started the scoring just 32 seconds into the game. John Tavares made a touch pass at the blue line to catch Nylander on his way into the zone. Nylander carried the puck to the net before taking a shot. Reimer got a toe on it but it bounced over the line. Assists went to Tavares and Morgan Reilly.

Nick Bonino tied tied up at 4:44. Bonino gathered a loose puck up near the hashmarks and took the shot right away. The puck went under Woll and in. Assists went to Noah Gregor and Erik Karlsson.

Wayne Simmonds gave his team the lead back soon after, at 5:16. Simmonds deflected a quick shot over Reimer’s glove and off the cross bar. Assists went to Kampf and Nick Ritchie.

Auston Matthews made it 3-1 at 4:57 of the second period. After a couple of cross-ice passes with Rasmus Sandin, Timothy Liljegren sent the puck to the net where it came loose before Matthews tapped it in. Assists went to Michael Bunting and Timothy Liljegren.

John Tavares scored Toronto’s fourth at 10:44, on the power play. Reimer fought off two shots, but Tavares persisted without much interference from Sharks skaters. He finally got it through, over Reimer’s pad. Assists went to Nylander and Mitchell Marner.

After that goal, Boughner pulled Reimer and put Adin Hill in net. After the game, Boughner said:

“It definitely wasn’t his fault. I told him that much when he came back to the bench. I said the plan was to play him Sunday in Chicago. So I said just get some rest. It was good for Hill to get in there, I think I was trying to spark the team, maybe have a little bit of momentum change there. I thought Hiller played well when he went in there, so that was important to see.”

It was the fifth time in a row that Reimer was pulled against the Mape Leafs, playing for various teams.

The shot count for the game was close, 35-33 Sharks. In the face-off circle, it was not close: the Maple Leafs won 60% of them. The Maple Leafs had six shots on the power play, in two tries. The Sharks power play had two shots in three tries.

The Sharks next play on Sunday in Chicago against the Blackhawks at 4:00 PM PT.