TORONTO – On a night when Toronto Maple Leafs honor Auston Matthews to set the one-season franchise mark for goals at the start of the week, the star center added two more before the first period ended.
Matthews scored his 57th and 58th goals 27 seconds apart early in the first frame as the Maple Leafs outlasted Montreal Canada 3-2 to hit 100 points in the season.
John Tavares added his 26th goal of the season and the scorer Erik Kallgren made 24 saves as Toronto won its seventh game in the past eight to secure a playoff spot at the Eastern Conference for the sixth year in a row. Maple Leafs also took the lead in second place in the Atlantic Division after Florida Panthers.
Matthews’ opener marked his 50th goal in the past 50 games, making him the first player to pull off the feat since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96.
Matthews extended his scoring streak to 16 games (21 goals, 10 assists). Linemate Mitchell Marner had 13 matches (eight goals, 20 assists).
“You know something special is going on,” the Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe speak. “I was really surprised he stopped at two [goals]. “
In their win over their biggest rival, the Matthews and Maple Leafs often hear chants of “MVP!” fell from the stands.
“You just get chills,” Matthews said upon hearing the calls. “Chills in the bones.”
Cole Caufield and Joel Edmundson scored for Montreal. Jake Allen stopped the first 14 shots he faced before leaving with an obvious leg injury as he stretched for Matthews’ first goal. Sam Montembeault make 23 stops on the remaining distance.
Matthews set Toronto’s single-season scoring record when he scored for the 55th and 56th respectively on Thursday night in a 4-3 overtime victory in Dallas.
Rick Vaive, who holds the 54-goal mark in a campaign for 40 years, was at Scotiabank Arena early Saturday to personally congratulate the 24-year-old on his achievement before Matthews became the first NHLer. after 26 years reaching 50 goals. in 50.
During the first-stage shutdown, there was a standing ovation and a pack of arena screen highlights in honor of Matthews.
“It was great,” he said. “I didn’t know it was happening so I was surprised.”
Tampa Bay Lightning front Steven Stamkos was the last NHL player to reach 60 goals. He hit that milestone in 2011-12.
If the season ends on Saturday night, the Maple Leafs, next to meet Buffalo Sabers on Tuesday night, will confront Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
