Matthews nets 50th as Leafs roll over Jets

Auston Matthews scored his Nhl-leading 50th goal of the season and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Winnipeg Jets 7-3 on Thursday.

Matthews scored Toronto’s sixth goal of the game into an empty net with 2:06 left in regulation. He moved past Leon Draisaitl (49 goals) of idle Edmonton for the league goal lead and became the first Maple Leafs player to reach the milestone since Dave Andreychuk scored 53 in 1993-94.

William Nylander had two power-play goals and an assist and Ilya Mikheyev scored short-handed and had a three-point game. Mark Giordano added a goal and an assist and John Tavares and Timothy Liljegren also scored Toronto. Mitch Marner added three assists.

PANTHERS 4, BLACKHAWKS 0 >> Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 37 shots for his third shutout of the season, leading Florida past Chicago.

Aleksander Barkov scored twice, Gustav Forsling had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Lomberg scored his fourth goal in three games as the Panthers won their 28th home game, a club record for a season.

Jonathan Huberdeau recorded his 71st assist, an NHL record for assists by a left winger. Huberdeau has 94 points, tied with Pavel Bure. He is closing in on the club record of 96 set by Barkov in the 2018-19 season.

HURRICANES 4, CANADIENS 0 >> Frederik Andersen made 32 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and Andrei Svechnikov scored twice as Carolina dominated.

BRUINS 8, DEVILS 1 >> Former Boston College captain Marc Mclaughlin scored in his NHL debut, capping a five-goal second-period outburst that propelled Boston over New Jersey.

Brad Marchand had two goals for Boston and had a third waved off — even as fans littered the ice with caps to celebrate the would-be hat trick. Patrice Bergeron had a goal and two assists, and David Pastrnak had three assists to help the Bruins to their most goals since Thanksgiving, 2019.

ISLANDERS 5, BLUE JACKETS 2 >> Kyle Palmieri scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period to lift New York past Columbus.

Mathew Barzal had a goal and an assist, and Sebastian Aho, Oliver Wahlstrom and Ryan Pulock also scored as New York improved to 7-1 in its last eight home games.

PENGUINS 4, WILD 3, OT >> Evgeni Malkin scored 3:57 into OT and Rickard Rakell had two goals as Pittsburgh halted Minnesota’s sevengame winning streak.

Kirill Kaprizov scored his 38th goal for Minnesota to tie the franchise record for points in a season with 83.

AVALANCHE 4, SHARKS 2 >> Mikko Rantanen scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 7:43 remaining, Pavel Francouz stopped 25 shots for Colorado.