Matthews scores 60th as Leafs blank Sabres
TORONTO 3 BUFFALO 0
BUFFALO, New York — Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 60th goal, Ilya Samsonov stopped 34 shots and Toronto beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-0 on Saturday night in front of a distinctly raucous Maple Leafs-backed road crowd. Captain John Tavares scored the opening goal in his 1,100th NHL game, and Nicholas Robertson also scored in helping the Maple Leafs maintain their hold on third place in the Atlantic Division.
Matthews became the league’s first twotime 60-goal scorer in 30 years, scoring with 5:37 left to cap the scoring. With chants of “MVP, MVP” raining from the stands, Matthews matched the franchise record he set when he led the NHL two seasons ago.
“It means a lot, obviously. This is much of a team accomplishment in my opinion as an individual one,” Matthews said. “It’s always a fun atmosphere here with all the blue and white in the stands. Definitely pretty cool.”
Matthews chased down Sabres defenceman Bowen Byram, who broke his stick while attempting to play the puck in Buffalo’s zone. After his first attempt was stopped by UkkoPekka Lukkonen, Matthews sent the puck back to the point. Lukkonenen stopped Conor Timmins shot, with Matthews sweeping the loose puck into the open left side.
The 26-year-old from Arizona joins a group of eight NHL players to have more than one 60-goal season and is the first since Pavel Bure had back-to-back 60-goal campaigns with the Vancouver Canucks in 1992-93 and 1993-94.
“It’s really impressive. Obviously, he’s able to score a lot of goals, but his play in all three zones away from the puck with the puck is just exceptional,” Tavares said about Matthews. “He’s just the total package.”
Luukkonen had 19 saves in his first outing since allowing four goals on nine shots in a 6-2 loss to Ottawa on Wednesday night.
A night after rallying from a 2-0 deficit in a 5-2 win over New Jersey, the Sabres continued their trend of inconsistent outings that has them slipping out of contention and in jeopardy of extending the team’s NHL-record playoff drought to a 13th consecutive season.
Samsonov posted his third shutout of the season and 13th of his career.