Matthews, Nylander each gets 3 points, Maple Leafs defeat Flames
Auston Matthews had two goals and an assist for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 6-2 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
“I thought our start was obviously much better than it has been,” Matthews said. “Just felt like we came out with the right intensity, the right attitude and focus and I thought it translated throughout the whole game. It’s nice to get back in the win column. I thought we did a lot of good things so just want to keep that going.”
William Nylander had a goal and two assists, Max Domi had a goal and an assist and Joseph Woll made 24 saves for the Maple Leafs (40-24-3), who had lost five of their past six (1-4-1) and not won in regulation since defeating the New York Rangers 3-2 on February 28 (seven games). Toronto pulled within two points of the Florida Panthers for first place in the Atlantic Division with a game in hand.
“The effort in our first period, just the urgency and the way we came out and played, shot pucks, our attempts were way up,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “We were right on top of them. There was no room for them so that was the key the start of the game for us.”
Rasmus Andersson and Kevin Bahl scored for the Flames (30-25-11), who have lost seven of their past nine and remain two points behind the Vancouver Canucks, with a game in hand, for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Dustin Wolf allowed five goals on 26 shots before being pulled for the first time this season and was replaced by Dan Vladar to start the third period. Vladar made two saves. Calgary was 0-for-3 on the penalty kill.
“The penalties we took, a team whose power play has been really good, that was one of the number one keys, you don’t want to give them opportunities and I think in the second period we took some poor penalties and our penalty kill was not sharp tonight,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “At the end of the day, I think that was for me the difference in the game. I didn’t mind a lot of our game 5-on-5, there was some things there we can build off but the penalties put us in a bad spot.”
The Maple Leafs went up 1-0 at 1:47 of the first period when Domi put in a rebound from Simon Benoit’s point shot, shooting over Wolf’s glove from the left face-off dot.
The Flames tied it 1-1 at 19:13 when Jonathan Huberdeau curled a pass around Oliver Ekman-Larsson to find Andersson in the high slot, who shot past Woll’s glove.
Nylander put the Maple Leafs up 2-1 at 1:39 of the second period on the power play when he one-timed a pass from Marner at the left face-off circle.
The Flames appeared to tie it 2-2 at 2:48 but the goal was overturned after Toronto successfully challenged for offside.
“Our video guys did a good job there, it was a taking a little longer than I thought but they told me they were 110 percent sure,” Berube said.
Nicholas Robertson made it 3-1 at 9:34 when he one-timed a pass at the top of the goal crease from Domi, who was behind the net.
“I try not to get too frazzled with little things that are distracting I can’t do anything about so I just have to move forward and do what I can,” said Robertson, who had taken minor penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct and high sticking prior to his goal. “Obviously I don’t want to be in the box twice and cost the team a goal and one of them almost did and it got called off thankfully, but yeah, it feels good to contribute like that and get back to getting momentum on my side.”
Matthews pushed it to 4-1 at 15:41 on the power play when he took a pass in the right circle from Nylander and shot past Wolf’s glove.
Matthews scored again on the power play at 18:54 to make it 5-1 when one-timed a pass in the slot from Matthew Knies, who was behind the net.
“Special teams (was the difference),” Andersson said. “It’s as easy as that. 5-on-5 we were playing with them all night and we were creating a lot at 5-on-5.”
Bobby McMann ended a 12-game goal drought and put the Maple Leafs up 6-1 at 3:03 of the third period when he took a pass from Morgan Rielly and shot from outside the right face-off dot.
“It’s a good one to get back on track,” Woll said. “It’s been a couple tight games the last few and we’ve been right there in it but I think we did a great job sticking to our process, playing to our systems and playing the way we know how and letting the result and outcome take care of itself.”
Kevin Bahl made it 6-2 at 19:12 when his point shot rebounded off Woll and then hit Scott Laughton before going into the net.
