Auston Matthews had two goals and an assist, and Morgan Rielly and Mitch Marner each added a goal and an assist to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 6-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night in Las Vegas.
Matthews collected his 100th and 101st career goals to become the second member of the 2016 NHL Draft class to hit the century mark, joining Winnipeg's Patrik Laine (105). Laine was selected second behind Matthews in that draft.
Andreas Johnsson and Patrick Marleau also scored goals while Jake Muzzin and Kasperi Kapanen each added two assists for Toronto, which won for the sixth time in seven games while also improving to 19-7-2 on the road. Frederik Andersen finished with 30 saves to garner his 27th victory of the season.
William Karlsson, Paul Stastny and Oscar Lindberg scored goals for Vegas, which fell to 2-7-0 in its past nine games while losing a franchise-record fifth consecutive home game. Marc-Andre Fleury, who allowed a season-high six goals, finished with 37 saves.
Johnsson gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead in the first period with a power-play goal, redirecting Jake Gardiner's shot from the right point past Fleury's glove side for his 15th of the season. It marked the fifth straight game that Vegas allowed a power-play goal.
The Golden Knights bounced back to take a 2-1 lead early in the second period. Stastny got the first with a short-handed goal off a pass from Reilly Smith, who intercepted a pass by Andersen behind his goal and then found Stastny cutting to the goal. Stastny then buried a one-timer.
Lindberg followed with his third goal of the season from the edge of the left circle off a nice drop pass by Cody Eakin.
Toronto tied it just 90 seconds later. Marleau tapped in a rebound of a Matthews shot from the left side of the net that bounced in off the back of Fleury's skate and into the net.
Matthews then gave Toronto a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal, firing a wrist shot from the left circle that went through the legs of defenseman Deryk Engelland and then through the pads of a screened Fleury for his 100th career goal and 26th of the season.
After Karlsson tied it again early in the third period with his 18th goal of the season, Rielly then put Toronto back in front for good, 4-3, with his 15th goal of the season, tops among all NHL defensemen. He fired a long wrist shot from inside the blue line past a Zach Hyman screen, and the puck went in on Fleury's blocker side.
Matthews followed 55 seconds later with his second of the game, spinning in the slot and firing a wrist shot over Fleury's right shoulder.
Marner then sealed the win with a short-handed goal, his 21st tally of the season, at 16:33.
--Field Level Media
Toronto | Vegas | |
Auston Matthews 3 | Points | William Karlsson 1 |
Auston Matthews 2 | Goals | William Karlsson 1 |
Kasperi Kapanen 2 | Assists | Cody Eakin 1 |
Auston Matthews 1 | Power Play Goals | N/A |
Mitchell Marner 1 | Short Handed Goals | Paul Stastny 1 |
Frederik Andersen .909 | Save Percentage | Marc-Andre Fleury .860 |
Frederik Andersen 30 | Saves | Marc-Andre Fleury 37 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Toronto | 43 | 6 | 2-6 | 3-3 | 6 | 32 |
Vegas | 33 | 3 | 0-3 | 4-6 | 12 | 36 |