Matthews, Maple Leafs hold off Flames to stay hot
Rielly has three assists to help Toronto to fourth win in five
Auston Matthews scored the game-winner at 2:42 of the third period in his return from injury, helping the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 3-2 victory against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Sunday.
Morgan Rielly had three assists, and Jack Campbell made 31 saves for the Maple Leafs (5-2-0), who have won four of their past five games.
“I think it was a pretty ugly game, to be honest, for us,” Matthews said. “There were a lot of things we could’ve done better. I think we had good sequences in the game and obviously a couple solid lucky bounces that went our way today. We’ll definitely take them. There will be some stuff we can clean up.”
Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves for the Flames (2-1-1), who play the Maple Leafs again here Tuesday.
“It’s kind of like a mini playoff series,” Markstrom said. “You want to, for sure, start by winning the first one and keep building off that, but now we’ve got a big game in a couple days against a good team. We’ve got to play tight; we’re creating chances … we’re not worried.”
Wayne Simmonds put Toronto up 2-1 with 32 seconds remaining in the second period. His first goal with the Maple Leafs was his 100th power-play goal and 500th point in the NHL.
“It’s pretty big,” Simmonds said. “It felt a lot better that we got the two points. Obviously, it’s nice to get it out of the way, but it’s even nicer to get the two points. Not too happy with our performance, we’ve got a few things we’ve got to fix, but a good two points to start off the (four-game) road trip.”
Rielly’s shot deflected off Matthews and Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson to make it 3-1 at 2:42 of the third period.
With the goal, Matthews has scored against all 30 other current NHL teams. He missed a 4-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Friday because of an upper-body injury.
“I felt like I made some good progress over the couple of days,” Matthews said. “I came to the rink a little bit early, tested it out. It felt fine.”
Stayed hot against the Flames!
Today's @OntarioLottery Game Winning Numbers: #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/GnXDb3hYvq
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) January 25, 2021
Morgan Rielly has recorded his eighth career game with three-plus assists. Only two defensemen in @MapleLeafs history have recorded more with the franchise: Borje Salming (29) and Tomas Kaberle (12). #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/BopuuyKDFG
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 24, 2021
First point as a Leaf.
500th in the @NHL.Congrats @Simmonds17! #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/C78p0SCTaC
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) January 24, 2021
A magical milestone ✨
Congrats to @Marner93 on recording his 300th career @NHL point! #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/ljweUlqdmm
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) January 24, 2021
#⃣🔟 Forever 💙 pic.twitter.com/VS2YUUJOIb
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) January 24, 2021