Tavares breaks tie in 3rd period, Maple Leafs defeat Mammoth

On the night John Tavares was honored for scoring his 500th NHL goal, his 501st broke a tie at 8:06 of the third period to help the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Utah Mammoth 5-3 at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.

Tavares, who also had an assist, gave the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead when he backhanded a shot over Vitek Vanecek’s right shoulder after Bobby McMann’s centering pass from behind the goal line bounced into the slot.

Tavares, who scored No. 500 in a 6-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 29, was recognized during an on-ice ceremony before the game with his parents, wife and three children for becoming the 49th player to reach the milestone.

Mattias Maccelli, William Nylander and Matthew Knies also each had a goal and an assist, and Anthony Stolarz made 21 saves for the Maple Leafs (8-5-1), who have won three in a row and five of their past six. Jake McCabe had two assists.

Michael Carcone, Mikhail Sergachev and Dylan Guenther scored, and Vanecek made 14 saves for the Mammoth (9-5-0), who have lost three of their past four following a seven-game winning streak. Utah won 2-1 in overtime at the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.

Maccelli, who was acquired from the Mammoth in a trade June 30, made it 4-2 at 15:40 of the when he took a Dakota Joshua pass from behind the net and shot high blocker from the right circle.

Knies shot into an empty net at 17:01 to make it 5-2 before Guenther cut it to 5-3 on the rush at 18:53.

The Mammoth went up 1-0 at 18:49 of the first period. Carcone shot over Stolarz’s right shoulder from the top of the crease after taking a pass from Lawson Crouse, who was behind the net after stealing the puck from Brandon Carlo on the forecheck.

Nylander tied it 1-1 at 4:46 of the second period, flipping a shot over Vanecek’s glove from the top of the crease during a delayed penalty after Knies poked the puck to him through traffic. Nylander has an eight-game personal point streak (five goals, 11 assists).

Auston Matthews scored for the third straight game, putting Toronto ahead 2-1 at 8:56 when he one-timed a pass from Maccelli over Vanecek’s glove from the top of the left face-off circle.

Sergachev tied it 2-2 at 16:27. McCabe’s backhanded clearing attempt from below the goal line was knocked down by Dmitri Simashev, who fed Sergachev for a one-timer just inside the blue line. The assist was the first NHL point for Simashev in his 14th career game.