Maple Leafs defeat Hurricanes, keep pace in tight Atlantic race

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Auston Matthews scored his 399th NHL goal, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 for their 50th win of the season at Lenovo Center on Sunday.

The Maple Leafs are first in the Atlantic Division, four points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who defeated the Buffalo Sabres 7-4 later on Sunday. Toronto has clinched a top-two finish in the division and home ice for the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Morgan Rielly had three assists, and Joseph Woll made 25 saves for the Maple Leafs (50-26-4), who have won three in a row and seven of their past eight games, including a 1-0 overtime victory against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

“We weathered the storm in the first,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “It’s just about harder plays with the puck in the second, winning more battles, more direct. I thought the second and third were good.”

Sebastian Aho scored for the Hurricanes (47-28-5), who are 1-4-1 in their past six games. Frederik Andersen made 16 saves.

The Hurricanes have secured second place in the Metropolitan Division and will host the New Jersey Devils in the first round.

“You play to win, and I didn’t like our second period,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I think we were OK with just being OK, and that’s not good enough. But I also understand the bigger picture. Guys have played pretty hard here all year.”

Pontus Holmberg gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead with 17 seconds remaining in the first period when he scored from the slot off the rebound of Rielly's shot.

The Hurricanes outshot the Maple Leafs 11-4 in the period.

“[Carolina] starts well. It’s part of their identity,” Rielly said. “I don’t think we were overly thrilled with how we started. That being said, we had composure to find our game after that. Then in the third, we were more or less able to lock things down and play pretty good hockey.”

Matthews made it 2-0 at 10:20 of the second period. He passed to Rielly before receiving a return feed and scoring on a one-timer from low in the right face-off circle.

William Nylander extended the lead to 3-0 at 1:25 of the third period when he scored on a backhand tip at the top of the crease off a pass from Max Domi. The goal was the 45th of the season for the 28-year-old forward.

“I think you always want to be creating something,” Nylander said. “That was just a great play by ‘Doms’ to find me there. I just tapped my stick on the ice there. I didn’t have to do much.”

Aho scored a power-play goal on a one-timer at the top of the right circle off a pass from Seth Jarvis to make it 3-1 at 7:58.

“Everyone wants to feel good about their game going into the [playoffs],” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. “So, we will learn from this and make sure we’re sharper next time. And when it matters, everyone will be ready to go.”

Aho's goal came in the final seconds of a four-minute power play that included a strong blocker save by Woll on a one-timer by Jack Roslovic.

“We had some great blocks, and we almost got the kill off, but we did a pretty good job for most of that kill,” Woll said. “It’s awesome to see all the guys buying in, especially this time of the year. I thought we did a good job of eliminating the high-quality chances.”

John Tavares pushed it to 4-1 at 15:43, scoring in the slot after Domi gathered the rebound of his own shot attempt.

NOTES: Mitch Marner had the secondary assist on Matthews’ goal to give him 99 points (26 goals, 73 assists). The forward can become the fourth player in Maple Leafs history to have a 100-point season. Doug Gilmour, Darryl Sittler and Matthews each did it twice. … Forward Dakota Mermis made his Maple Leafs debut after he was emergency recalled from Toronto of the American Hockey League. He had one shot on goal, two hits and two blocked shots in 15:11 of ice time. … Jarvis tied his career high of 67 points (set in 2023-24) and established a new career high by getting his 35th assist. … Carolina finished 31-9-1 at home, which is tied for the most home wins in franchise history (31-8-2 in 2005-06).