Matthews, Nylander each gets 3 points, Maple Leafs defeat Flames

TORONTO -- Auston Matthews had two goals and an assist for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 6-2 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.

“I thought our start was obviously much better than it has been,” Matthews said. “Just felt like we came out with the right intensity, the right attitude and focus, and I thought it translated throughout the whole game. It’s nice to get back in the win column. I thought we did a lot of good things, so just want to keep that going.”

William Nylander had a goal and two assists, Max Domi had a goal and an assist, and Joseph Woll made 24 saves for the Maple Leafs (40-24-3), who had lost five of their past six (1-4-1) and had not won in regulation since defeating the New York Rangers 3-2 on February 28 (seven games).

Toronto moved within two points of the Florida Panthers for first place in the Atlantic Division with one game in hand.

“The effort in our first period, just the urgency and the way we came out and played, shot pucks, our attempts were way up,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “We were right on top of them. There was no room for them, so that was the key the start of the game for us.”

Rasmus Andersson and Kevin Bahl scored for the Flames (30-25-11), who have lost seven of their past nine (2-4-3) and remained two points behind the Vancouver Canucks, who have a game in hand, for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Dustin Wolf allowed five goals on 26 shots before being pulled for the first time this season. He was replaced by Dan Vladar, who made two saves in the third period.

“The penalties we took, a team whose power play has been really good, that was one of the No. 1 keys, you don’t want to give them opportunities, and I think in the second period we took some poor penalties and our penalty kill was not sharp tonight (0-for-3),” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “At the end of the day, I think that was for me the difference in the game. I didn’t mind a lot of our game 5-on-5, there was some things there we can build off, but the penalties put us in a bad spot.”

Domi put the Maple Leafs ahead 1-0 at 1:47 of the first period when he got the rebound of Simon Benoit’s point shot and scored over Wolf’s glove from the left face-off dot.

Andersson tied it 1-1 at 19:13. Jonathan Huberdeau curled a pass around Oliver Ekman-Larsson to Andersson, who shot past Woll's glove from the high slot.

Nylander put the Maple Leafs back in front 2-1 at 1:39 of the second period when he one-timed a pass from Marner in the left circle on the power play.

The Flames appeared to tie it 2-2 at 2:48, but the goal was overturned after Toronto successfully challenged for offside.

“Our video guys did a good job there," Berube said. "It was a taking a little longer than I thought, but they told me they were 110 percent sure."

Nicholas Robertson pushed it to 3-1 at 9:34 with a one-timer from the top of the crease off a pass from Domi, who was behind the net.

“I try not to get too frazzled with little things that are distracting I can’t do anything about, so I just have to move forward and do what I can,” said Robertson, who had been assessed a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and high-sticking prior to his goal. “Obviously, I don’t want to be in the box twice and cost the team a goal, and one of them almost did and it got called off thankfully, but yeah, it feels good to contribute like that and get back to getting momentum on my side.”

Matthews made it 4-1 at 15:41, taking a pass from Nylander in the right circle and scoring glove side for a power-play goal. He then scored again on the power play with a one-timer in the slot to extend the lead to 5-1 at 18:54.

“Special teams (was the difference),” Andersson said. “It’s as easy as that. Five-on-5 we were playing with them all night and we were creating a lot at 5-on-5.”

Bobby McMann put the Maple Leafs up 6-1 at 3:03 of the third period when he took a pass from Morgan Rielly and scored from outside the right face-off dot. It ended a 12-game goal drought.

Kevin Bahl made it 6-2 at 19:12 when his point shot hit off Woll and then Scott Laughton before going into the net.

“It’s a good one to get back on track,” Woll said. “It’s been a couple tight games the last few and we’ve been right there in it, but I think we did a great job sticking to our process, playing to our systems and playing the way we know how and letting the result and outcome take care of itself.”

NOTES: John Tavares played his 500th game with the Maple Leafs. He has 475 points (211 goals and 264 assists). ... Nylander extended his point streak to nine games (five goals, eight assists). His assist on Matthews’ first goal moved him past Frank Mahovlich (597) for sole possession of ninth in points in Maple Leafs history (599). ... Matthews' two goals in the second period was the 36th multigoal period of his career, passing Darryl Sittler for the most in franchise history.