Auston Matthews powers Leafs to win over Habs

EditorsNote: Reworded 2nd graf; Added time of goal at end of 7th graf; Added goalies’ save totals

Auston Matthews scored two goals and tallied two assists to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs past the host Montreal Canadiens 5-3 Saturday.

It was Matthews’ third two-goal game in his last four contests that extended a 16-game point streak. He also logged a career best for most points in a single period, grabbing all of his points in a second-period binge.

Mitchell Marner had a goal and two assists for the Leafs while Travis Boyd and Alexander Kerfoot each scored once.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Paul Byron and Tyler Toffoli scored for the Canadiens.

Both teams went scoreless in the first period, the Leafs holding the Canadiens to two shots through the first 10 minutes of the game. The floodgates opened in the second period.

Matthews kicked off six goals between the two teams, scoring on a 5-on-3 power play at the 1:03 mark of the second.

Just 15 seconds later at 5-on-4, he stood inside the blueline and knocked down a Canadiens clearing attempt and got the puck up to Joe Thornton, who fed it over to Boyd, who scored for his first career power-play goal at 1:20.

The Canadiens got on the board at 3:24. Tomas Tatar worked the puck up the sideboards and got a long lead pass off to Kotkaniemi. The 20-year-old sprung across the blue line for a breakaway and flicked the puck over Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen (30 saves).

Only 33 seconds later, Byron capitalized on another Leafs defensive miscue at the Canadiens’ blue line. The Leafs tried to give chase but he dodged coverage and dished a backhander over Andersen’s glove to knot the game at 2-2.

Marner restored the Leafs’ lead at 7:31, skating into the slot with a quick shot past Canadiens goalie Carey Price (22 saves), and then Matthews scored his second at 15:05, firing a laser shot through traffic.

Kotkaniemi thought he had a second goal less than a minute later, shoving the puck past Andersen on a goal-mouth scramble, but Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe called for a challenge on goaltender interference. Officials agreed and the goal was called back.

The Canadiens leaned toward offense in the third but that meant giving up a 2-on-1. Jason Spezza fed Kerfoot for the Leafs’ fifth goal.

Toffoli cut the Leafs lead down to 5-3 at the 18:34 mark to finish the scoring.

–Field Level Media