Maple Leafs down Canadiens for third straight win

TORONTO – Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to eight games in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

William Nylander, with a goal and an assist of his own, John Tavares and Conor Timmins also scored for Toronto (9-5-2), which has won three straight.

Joseph Woll made 20 saves. Morgan Rielly picked up an assist to become the third Leafs defenceman to reach 400 in his career, joining Borje Salming (620) and Tomas Kaberle (437).

Brendan Gallagher replied for Montreal (4-9-2). Sam Montembeault stopped 23 shots as the Canadiens fell to 0-5-1 over their last six.

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Toronto captain Auston Matthews missed a third straight game with an upper-body injury. The three-time Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy winner as the NHL’s leading goal-scorer was on the ice Saturday morning and is eligible to return to the lineup Tuesday.

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The Leafs are now 38-19-2 all-time in the regular season minus Matthews. The club also won two playoff games without the star sniper last spring.

TAKEAWAYS

Leafs: The power play connected twice to improve to 8-for-14 since last weekend after starting the season 3-for-39.

Canadiens: The club has been outscored 29-12 during its losing streak.

KEY MOMENT

With the Leafs killing a penalty up 2-0 in the second period, David Kampf appeared to run out of room off the rush before feeding Marner in front for the winger to bury his fourth goal of the season.

KEY STAT

Toronto picked up a ninth straight regular-season home victory over Montreal dating back to April 7, 2021, to match the longest home win streak between the clubs. The Canadiens topped the Leafs three times in the 2021 playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on the way to erasing a 3-1 series deficit and winning in seven games.

UP NEXT

Canadiens: Visit the Buffalo Sabres in a Monday matinee.

Maple Leafs: Host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

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