Matthews keys Leafs past Isles
Auston Matthews scored twice, Frederik Andersen earned his 100th NHL win and the Maple Leafs routed the New York Islanders, 7-1, last night in Toronto in a game with playoff implications.
The Maple Leafs set a season high for goals and won for the third time in nine games. They moved three points ahead of the Islanders for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. New York fell to 10-4-2 in its past 16 games.
Matthews increased his rookie total to 27 goals and Andersen stopped 33 shots. Josh Leivo had a career-high three points with one goal and two assists for Toronto.
Thomas Greiss and Jean-Francois Berube combined to give up seven goals on 41 shots.
Sabres 3, Senators 2 — Robin Lehner made 39 saves against his former team and Matt Moulson and Justin Bailey scored in the third period to help rally Buffalo past host Ottawa.
Lehner is 4-0-2 against the club that drafted him in the second round of the 2009 NHL draft. He was traded away with David Legwand in June 2015 to Buffalo for the 21st overall pick in that year’s draft.
Ryan O’Reilly also scored for the Sabres, 4-0-1 against the Senators this season.
Bobby Ryan ended a five-game run without a point by getting a goal and an assist for Ottawa.
Penguins 4, Canucks 0 — Evgeni Malkin scored and picked up an assist in his return from injury, Sidney Crosby got his 999th career point with an assist and host Pittsburgh rolled by Vancouver.
Phil Kessel, Jake Guentzel and Matt Cullen also scored for the Penguins. Matt Murray stopped 29 shots for his third shutout of the season and fourth of his career.
Pittsburgh broke it open with three third-period goals past goalie Ryan Miller. Crosby fed a streaking Guentzel down the slot 2:27 into the third to make it 2-0 and pull Crosby within a point of becoming the 86th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points.
Miller made 38 saves as the Penguins remained unbeaten in regulation since the All-Star break (5-0-2).
Ducks 1, Wild 0 — In St. Paul, Minn., John Gibson made 37 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, rookie Joseph Cramarossa scored his fourth goal and Anaheim beat Minnesota.
The Wild were 0-for-5 on the power play and lost in regulation for the first time in six games and the fifth time in 34.
Devils 3, Avalanche 2 — In Newark, Devils defenseman Andy Greene scored the go-ahead goal on a power play and Kyle Palmieri converted on an odd-man rush with Taylor Hall to lead New Jersey past struggling Colorado.
Cory Schneider made 28 saves and Pavel Zacha added a goal as New Jersey won for the fourth time in six games in its push to make the playoffs.
Jeremy Smith stopped 37 shots in his NHL debut after seven seasons in the minors for Colorado, 4-22-1 in its past 27 games.
Jets 5, Stars 2 — Patrik Laine got his third hat trick of the season, including the go-ahead goal late in the third period, to lift host Winnipeg over Dallas.
The Finnish rookie has 26 goals this season, including two in the third period while Winnipeg blew open a tight game.
Oilers 5, Coyotes 2 — Leon Draisaitl and Oscar Klefbom each had a goal and two assists as Edmonton overcame a slow start to beat visiting Arizona.
Matt Hendricks, Mark Letestu and Patrick Maroon also scored for the Oilers, who won for the second time in six games. Josh Jooris and Martin Hanzal had the goals for the Coyotes, who won their previous two.
Elsewhere in the NHL — St. Louis forward Paul Stastny was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. Fourth on the team in scoring with 15 goals and 20 assists, he was injured during the Blues’ 2-1 overtime win on Feb. 9 in Toronto.