Auston Matthews, playing for the first time since Oct. 27, had two goals and an assist and John Tavares also scored twice as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting San Jose Sharks 5-3 on Wednesday night.

Matthews, returning from a shoulder injury that cost him 14 games, helped the Maple Leafs to their third straight win.

Patrick Marleau also scored for the Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner added three assists.

Frederik Andersen stopped 38 shots in the Toronto goal.

Tomas Hertl, Joe Pavelski and Melker Karlsson scored for the Sharks, who have lost three in a row including an overtime game in Buffalo on Tuesday.

Logan Couture added two assists for the Sharks, who have two games remaining on a five-game trip.

Aaron Dell made 24 saves for San Jose.

The Maple Leafs led 3-1 after the first period with the first three goals of the game coming with the man advantage.

Matthews set up Tavares in the slot at 3:38 of the first with Kevin Labanc off for tripping.

Hertl tied the game with his sixth goal this season from in front of the crease at 10:40 while Andreas Johnsson served an interference penalty.

Matthews scored his 11th goal of the season at 11:19 on a laser from the left circle to the top corner, 17 seconds after Barclay Goodrow was called for holding.

Tavares scored his 17th goal this season, the only even-strength goal of the first period, at 19:42 on a pass to the edge of the crease from Marner.

Each team scored once in the second period.

The Maple Leafs took a 4-1 lead at 1:53 of the second with their third power-play goal of the game when Marleau, a former Shark, made his sixth goal this season.

San Jose cut the deficit to 4-2 on a power play at 4:18 with Pavelski notching his 16th of the season on a sharp-angled one-timer from the left circle.

Matthews' 12th goal of the season gave the Leafs a 5-2 lead at 10:59 of the third period.

Karlsson scored his second goal of the season at 18:02 of the third for the game's final score.

--Field Level Media