MONTREAL (AP) 鈥� Auston Matthews scored his league-leading 64th goal of the season in a four-goal second period for the Maple Leafs, and Toronto defeated the archrival Montreal Canadiens 4-2 on Saturday night.
Matthews hit the 100-point mark for the second time in his career and extended his point streak to 10 games in the process.
鈥淎uston鈥檚 not a guy that really cares too much about his points, his own milestones,鈥� Mitch Marner said. 鈥淏ut what he鈥檚 been doing this year has been special.鈥�
The 26-year-old superstar is on pace for 69 goals, one shy of the 70-goal milestone that hasn鈥檛 been attained since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny reached 76 in 1992-93. No one has scored 65 goals since Alex Ovechkin in 2007-08.
Bobby McMann, Matthew Knies and Max Domi also scored as Toronto spread the wealth on offense. Not a single player produced more than one point.
鈥淚t just makes our team very deep and very hard to play against, hard to matchup against,鈥� said Marner, who had one assist in his first game back from missing 12 with an ankle injury.
Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves. The Maple Leafs clinched a spot in the playoffs while idle Friday.
Nick Suzuki 鈥� with a goal and an assist 鈥� and Cole Caufield scored for Montreal in a second straight loss. Mike Matheson pitched in with two assists.
Sam Montembeault allowed four goals on 12 shots before getting the hook midway through the second period. Cayden Primeau stopped all 18 shots he faced in relief.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 Monty鈥檚 fault, it鈥檚 just bad bounces,鈥� defenseman David Savard said. 鈥淲e wanted to fight back and show what we can do, and I think there鈥檚 no quit in this team.鈥�
After a scoreless first period, the floodgates opened in the second.
Domi opened the scoring 2:21 into the period by tipping a point shot from Ilya Lyubushkin between Montembeault鈥檚 legs.
Matthews doubled the lead 17 seconds later with a centering pass that deflected off David Savard鈥檚 skate and into the net 鈥� drawing an eruption from the Maple Leafs fans who came out to the rivalry game in numbers.
鈥淗e can shoot from everywhere, he鈥檚 dangerous from anywhere,鈥� Savard said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 really surprise me from him.鈥�
Knies made it 3-0 at 7:20 as Montreal appeared to lose control of the game.
Off the next faceoff, Toronto鈥檚 Ryan Reaves and Montreal鈥檚 Michael Pezzetta 鈥� who had been jawing at each other earlier in the game 鈥� dropped the gloves in a spirited fight.
鈥淚 love watching him do what he does, he鈥檚 the best in the world at it for a reason,鈥� Matthews said of Reaves. 鈥淗e鈥檚 just an animal. Honestly, he鈥檚 a beast. It鈥檚 moments like those where you really realize how important he is to the team.鈥�
McMann then added to Montreal鈥檚 misery with a goal at 7:54.
Matthews nearly scored his 65th late in the third period but rang his shot off the post.
UP NEXT
Maple Leafs: Host Penguins on Monday night.
Canadiens: Visit New York Rangers on Sunday night.
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The Associated Press
