Nylander, Matthews lead the way as Leafs match franchise record for points

William Nylander and Auston Matthews each had two goals and an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Monday to match a franchise record for points in a season.

Andreas Johnsson also scored for the Maple Leafs (48-25-7), who have won 15 of their last 17 games at Air Canada Centre. Matthews extended his point streak to seven games in Toronto’s 28th home win of the season. He has five goals and 10 points on his run. Backup Curtis McElhinney got his second straight start and stopped 32 shots for the win.

Sam Reinhart scored his career-high 24th goal of the season for the last-place Sabres (25-42-12). Jason Pominville had the other while Chad Johnson made 31 saves. Toronto equalled Pat Quinn’s 2003-04 squad for most points in a season with 103, however Quinn’s team did it before the NHL instituted the shootout to break ties.

The Leafs have seven shootouts victories in 2017-18. Johnsson opened the scoring at 5:44 of the first when he deflected a pass from Tomas Plekanec.

Buffalo had its opportunities to put a goal on the board before the period was through with Toronto defenceman Roman Polak taking back-to-back high sticking penalties - including a double minor - but the Sabres couldn’t get much going.

Polak had 5:37 of ice time in the first, a secondary assist on Johnsson’s goal and six minutes in high-sticking penalties. The Sabres began the second period with over three minutes remaining in Polak’s double minor. Buffalo couldn’t get anything going for over two minutes. But after finally setting up in Toronto’s zone, Reinhart deflected a Ristolainen point shot past McElhinney to tie the game at 2:27. Matthews responded for the Leafs on the power play a little over two minutes later, wristing a shot top shelf on Johnson from just inside the face-off circle. Nylander made it 3-1 on a breakaway at 7:39 after Matthews caught Buffalo on a bad line change and made a stretch pass ahead to the streaking Swede, who broke in alone to beat Johnson glove side. Nylander added his second of the period for a three-goal lead, going backand to forehand before snapping it under the bar only 2:37 after his first goal.

The Sabres cut into Toronto’s lead on the power play 2:48 into the third period when Pominville put home a rebound. Matthews made it 5-2 with his second power-play goal of the game, finishing off a Nylander pass to give him 60 points in 60 games. McElhinney made rare backto-back starts, with head coach Mike Babcock choosing to give starter Frederik Andersen some extra rest. Andersen has faced the most shots of any goaltender this season and is third in minutes played. Toronto finishes the season with a game Thursday in New Jersey and Saturday at home against Montreal.