MONTREAL (AP) — Auston Matthews scored his league-leading 64th goal of the season in a four-goal second period for the Maple Leafs, and Toronto defeated the archrival Montreal Canadiens 4-2 on Saturday night.
Matthews hit the 100-point mark for the second time in his career and extended his point streak to 10 games in the process.
“Auston’s not a guy that really cares too much about his points, his own milestones,” Mitch Marner said. “But what he’s been doing this year has been special.”
The 26-year-old superstar is on pace for 69 goals, one shy of the 70-goal milestone that hasn’t been attained since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny reached 76 in 1992-93. No one has scored 65 goals since Alex Ovechkin in 2007-08.
Bobby McMann, Matthew Knies and Max Domi also scored as Toronto spread the wealth on offense. Not a single player produced more than one point.
“It just makes our team very deep and very hard to play against, hard to matchup against,” said Marner, who had one assist in his first game back from missing 12 with an ankle injury.
Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves. The Maple Leafs clinched a spot in the playoffs while idle Friday.
Nick Suzuki — with a goal and an assist — and Cole Caufield scored for Montreal in a second straight loss. Mike Matheson pitched in with two assists.
Sam Montembeault allowed four goals on 12 shots before getting the hook midway through the second period. Cayden Primeau stopped all 18 shots he faced in relief.
“It wasn’t Monty’s fault, it’s just bad bounces,” defenseman David Savard said. “We wanted to fight back and show what we can do, and I think there’s no quit in this team.”
After a scoreless first period, the floodgates opened in the second.
Domi opened the scoring 2:21 into the period by tipping a point shot from Ilya Lyubushkin between Montembeault’s legs.
Matthews doubled the lead 17 seconds later with a centering pass that deflected off David Savard’s skate and into the net — drawing an eruption from the Maple Leafs fans who came out to the rivalry game in numbers.
“He can shoot from everywhere, he’s dangerous from anywhere,” Savard said. “It doesn’t really surprise me from him.”
Knies made it 3-0 at 7:20 as Montreal appeared to lose control of the game.
Off the next faceoff, Toronto’s Ryan Reaves and Montreal’s Michael Pezzetta — who had been jawing at each other earlier in the game — dropped the gloves in a spirited fight.
“I love watching him do what he does, he’s the best in the world at it for a reason,” Matthews said of Reaves. “He’s just an animal. Honestly, he’s a beast. It’s moments like those where you really realize how important he is to the team.”
McMann then added to Montreal’s misery with a goal at 7:54.
Matthews nearly scored his 65th late in the third period but rang his shot off the post.
UP NEXT
Maple Leafs: Host Penguins on Monday night.
Canadiens: Visit New York Rangers on Sunday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
The Associated Press
