TORONTO (AP) Auston Matthews set a franchise record for the Maple Leafs on Monday night.
However his focus is on the rest of Toronto’s season.
Matthews scored in a four-goal second period and Toronto downed the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 on Monday night.
Matthews’ goal made him the first Maple Leafs player to score 30 or more goals in the first three seasons of his career.
”It’s pretty humbling,” said Matthews, who had 40 goals in his rookie season and 34 last season. ”Luckily my first years I played with great players on any given night. Guys that can move the puck and make plays.
”I just do what I do. I’m kind of a shoot-first guy, try to score, it’s how I’ve always been.”
John Tavares, Frederik Gauthier and Tyler Ennis also scored in Toronto’s four-goal second period as the Maple Leafs held on for their second straight win. Kasperi Kapanen added some insurance with a short-handed goal in the third.
Toronto general manager Kyle Dubas was fairly quiet on the NHL’s trade deadline Monday afternoon, only sending Par Lindholm to the Winnipeg Jets for Nic Petan in a swap of forwards. Toronto’s big move came on Jan. 29 when it acquired veteran defenseman Jake Muzzin in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings.
Matthews felt it was important to get a statement win after the trade deadline had passed and to carry some momentum into the final months of the season.
”We have a lot of faith in each other in this locker room,” said Matthews. ”Looking around we’ve got a lot of depth and we’ve got a lot of belief in one another.
”We’re hitting that point in the year where we’ve got to take another step and really dial it in.”
Frederik Andersen made 31 saves for his 100th win for Toronto, the eighth goaltender in franchise history to accomplish the feat, requiring the fewest starts to do it.
”I feel good,” said Andersen, who has made seven straight starts. ”Just trying to take it one game at a time and get some rest when we do get days off and make sure I recover.”
Jack Eichel scored twice for Buffalo, while Sam Reinhart added a goal and an assist.
”We had like seven or eight minutes of bad hockey where we let them get behind us, and that was it,” Eichel said. ”They had too many odd-man rushes in the second period, and it cost us the game.”
Carter Hutton started in net for Buffalo, stopping 9 of 12 shots in 25:52 of work. Linus Ullmark replaced Hutton in net, turning aside 19 of 21 shots.
Buffalo also made a deal with Winnipeg on Monday, sending defenseman Nathan Beaulieu to the Jets for a sixth-round pick in the 2019 draft.
The Sabres had acquired veteran defenseman Brandon Montour from the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday for blue liner Brendan Guhle and a first-round selection in this summer’s draft. Montour had not joined the team in time for Monday’s game in Toronto.
After Eichel opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the final minute of the first period, the Maple Leafs came out flying in the second.
Tavares redirected a slap shot from Muzzin past Hutton to tie the game 1-1 at the 3:48 mark of the period, 9 seconds after a Sabres penalty expired.
Matthews scored while the announcer was still giving details on Tavares’ goal. The puck deflected off a defender’s skate and right to Matthews’ stick. He made no mistake, swatting it into the net.
Gauthier piled on just 28 seconds later, taking a pass with his back to the net and slipping a backhand shot past Hutton. That ended Hutton’s night, with Ullmark coming on in relief.
Ennis made it 4-1 a little over seven minutes later on a breakaway. Gauthier assisted on that goal and on his next shift Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian offered to fight him to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick.
”He kind of smiled when he asked me so I smiled back as I said no,” said Gauthier.
The Sabres answered with 2:35 left in the second when Reinhart completed a tic-tac-toe passing play while Buffalo held the man advantage. Eichel scored 9 seconds into the third period, cutting Toronto’s lead to 4-3.
Matthews took a tripping penalty late in the third, but Kapanen stole the puck on a turnover and put away his 19th goal of the season on a breakaway with 2:18 left in the game.
NOTES: Sting was in attendance, receiving a Maple Leafs jersey with his name on it in the first period. … Several players on the Maple Leafs had rainbow-colored tape on their sticks as part of the team’s You Can Play initiative that is dedicated to the eradication of homophobia in sports.
UP NEXT:
Sabres: Face the Flyers in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.
Maple Leafs: Host Edmonton on Wednesday night.
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