Matthews returns, Leafs roll

Auston Matthews had two goals and an assist in his return from a left shoulder injury that sidelined him a month and the Maple Leafs beat the San Jose Sharks, 5-3, last night in Toronto for their third straight victory.

John Tavares also scored twice, former San Jose star Patrick Marleau added a goal, Mitch Marner had three assists, and Andreas Johnsson finished with two assists to help Toronto improve to 18-8-0. Frederik Andersen made 37 saves to improve to 8-2-0 in his past 10 starts.

Tomas Hertl, Joe Pavelski and Melker Karlsson scored for San Jose, Logan Couture had two assists and Aaron Dell made 24 saves.

Matthews sat out 14 games after taking a clean hit from Winnipeg’s Jacob Trouba on Oct. 27. The 21-year-old center had 10 goals and six assists in the first seven games of the season but was held off the scoresheet in three consecutive outings before getting hurt.

He made an almost immediate impact against San Jose, taking a pass from Marner and finding Tavares at the edge of the crease on a power play to light the lamp at 3:38 of the first period.

Ducks 3, Panthers 2 — In Sunrise, Fla., Nick Ritchie broke a tie with 1:28 left with his second goal of the game, John Gibson made 42 saves and Anaheim edged Florida.

Ritchie grabbed a loose puck in front and beat James Reimer to the right side. Red Wings 4, Blues 3 — Tyler Bertuzzi broke a tie with 6:53 to go, scoring his second goal of the game as host Detroit beat St. Louis after blowing a 3-0 lead.

Bertuzzi put in a loose puck from just outside the crease for his eighth goal of the season.

Elsewhere in the NHL — The last-place Flyers continued their organizational purge, firing assistant general manager Chris Pryor and assistant coach Gord Murphy just two days after firing general manager Ron Hextall, who held his post for 4½ seasons.