Evangelista and Forsberg lead Predators to 5-2 win over Maple Leafs

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Filip Forsberg had two goals and an assist, Luke Evangelista had a goal and two assists, and the Nashville Predators snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

Michael Bunting and Kieffer Bellows also scored goals, Fedor Svechkov had two assists and Juuse Saros made 24 saves for Nashville.

Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist, John Tavares also scored and Joseph Woll made 27 saves for Toronto, which had its three-game winning streak ended. Auston Matthews had two assists.

Toronto had a two-goal lead in the first with Tavares and Marner scoring less than four minutes apart.

Bunting halved the Toronto lead with a power-play goal 1:39 into the second. The goal was Bunting’s first as a Predator following his trade to Nashville from Pittsburgh.

Bellows made it 2-2 at 9:15 of the second.

Forsberg gave Nashville its first lead with 46.6 seconds remaining in the second.

Evangelista added an insurance goal midway through the third with an assist from Forsberg.

Maple Leafs: Toronto, battling for the top spot in the Atlantic Division, dropped a game to one of the NHL’s worst teams after holding a two-goal lead.

Predators: Entering Saturday, the Predators had not scored more than one goal in their last four games. A lack of goal scoring has plagued the Predators all season.

With 5:50 remaining in the first, Scott Laughton appeared to give the Maple Leafs a 3-0 lead, but a video review determined that he deflected the puck into the net with a high stick and the goal was nullified.

Tavares’ goal was his 30th of the season, the seventh time in his career he’s reached that milestone.

The Maple Leafs host the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night, while the Predators visit the St. Louis Blues on Sunday night.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe (22) hits Nashville Predators left wing Kieffer Bellows (26) to the ice during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Nashville Predators right wing Luke Evangelista (77) slides across the ice under Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Simon Benoit (2) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Nashville Predators left wing Michael Bunting, left, celebrates his goal with teammates during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Nashville Predators left wing Kieffer Bellows (26) celebrates his goal with teammates during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Nashville Predators right wing Luke Evangelista (77) skates the puck past Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Mitch Marner (16) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Nashville Predators left wing Filip Forsberg, center, celebrates his goal with teammates Ryan O'Reilly (90), Luke Evangelista (77), Nick Blankenburg, second from right, and Brady Skjei (76) during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Nashville Predators left wing Filip Forsberg, right, shoots the puck past Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev, left, during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

TOKYO (AP) — The Unification Church in Japan was ordered dissolved by a court Tuesday after a government request spurred by the investigation into the 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The church said it was considering an immediate appeal of the Tokyo District Court’s revocation of its legal status, which would take away its tax-exempt privilege and require liquidation of its assets.

The order followed a request by Japan’s Education Ministry in 2023 to dissolve the influential South Korea-based sect, citing manipulative fundraising and recruitment tactics that sowed fear among followers and harmed their families.

The Japanese branch of the church had criticized the request as a serious threat to religious freedom and the human rights of its followers.

The church called the court order regrettable and unjust and said in a statement the court's decision was based on “a wrong legal interpretation and absolutely unacceptable."

The investigation into Abe's assassination revealed decades of cozy ties between the South Korea-based church and Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party. The church obtained legal status as a religious organization in Japan in the 1960s during an anti-communist movement supported by Abe’s grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi.

The man accused of killing Abe resented the church and blamed it for his family's financial troubles.

The church, which officially calls itself the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, is the first religious group subject to a revocation order under Japan’s civil code. Two earlier case involved criminal charges — the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, which carried out a sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, and Myokakuji group, whose executives were convicted of fraud.

To seek the church's dissolution, the Education Ministry had submitted 5,000 documents and pieces of evidence to the court, based on interviews with more than 170 people.

The church tried to steer its followers’ decision-making, using manipulative tactics, making them buy expensive goods and donate beyond their financial ability and causing fear and harm to them and their families, seriously deviating from the law on religious groups, officials and experts say.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs said the settlements reached in or outside court exceeded 20 billion yen ($132 million) and involved more than 1,500 people.

The church, founded in Seoul in 1954, a year after the end of the Korean War, by the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the self-proclaimed messiah who preached new interpretations of the Bible and conservative, family-oriented value systems.

It developed relations with conservative world leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as his predecessors Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

The church faced accusations in the 1970s and 1980s of using devious recruitment tactics and brainwashing adherents into turning over huge portions of their salaries to Moon. In Japan, the group has faced lawsuits for offering “spiritual merchandise” that allegedly caused members to buy expensive art and jewelry or sell their real estate to raise donations for the church.

The church has acknowledged excessive donations but says the problem has lessened since the group stepped up compliance in 2009.

Experts say Japanese followers are asked to pay for sins committed by their ancestors during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, and that the majority of the church’s worldwide funding comes from Japan.

Nobuya Fukumoto, foreground center, a lawyer for the Unification Church, is surrounded by reporters after the church was ordered dissolved by the Tokyo District Court, in front of the court in Tokyo Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)

The logo of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, is seen at its building's entrance on Nov. 7, 2023, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

The entrance of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, is seen on Nov. 7, 2023, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)