Matthews scores 399th NHL goal, Rielly has 3 assists for Toronto
Maple Leafs at Hurricanes | Recap
RALEIGH, N.C. — Auston Matthews scored his 399th NHL goal, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 for their 50th win of the season at Lenovo Center on Sunday.
The Maple Leafs are first in the Atlantic Division, six points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers.
Morgan Rielly had three assists and Joseph Woll made 25 saves for the Maple Leafs (50-26-4), who have won three in a row and seven of their past eight games, including a 1-0 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
Sebastian Aho scored for the Hurricanes (47-28-5), who are 1-4-1 in the past six games. Frederik Andersen made 15 saves.
Pontus Holmberg gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead with 17 seconds remaining in the first period when he scored from the slot off the rebound of Reilly’s shot.
Matthews made it 2-0 at 10:20 of the second period. Matthews passed to Reilly before receiving a return pass and scoring on a one-timer low in the right face-off circle.
William Nylander extended the lead to 3-0 at 1:25 of the third period when scored on a backhand tip at the top of the crease off a pass from Max Domi.
Aho scored a power-play goal on a one-timer at the top of the right circle off a pass from Seth Jarvis to make it 3-1 at 7:58.
Domi gathered the rebound of his own shot attempt and set up John Tavares in the slot to extend the lead to 4-1 at 15:43.
