Leafs Keep Fans Dreaming of Stanley – Canadiens Keep Winning
EDMONTON — Auston Matthews scored on the power-play goal at 13:37 of the third frame to carry the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4th win in a row.
It was a 4-3 against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Thursday.
Matthews scored for the fourth straight game on a shot from the left face-off circle to give Toronto a 4-3 lead for his 5th goal of the season.
Jason Spezza scored once and got an assist for the Leafs who are now 7-2-0 for the season.
Frederik Andersen made 26 saves in the net.
Postgame, Matthews said, “We got the win, which is all that matters. Obviously a lot of disruptive flow; we’re taking too many penalties right now. Special teams came up big, couple of big penalty kills, a couple of big power-play goals for us and sometimes that’s the way the game goes. Special teams got to come through and obviously we squeaked out with this one, but obviously some guys came up with some big plays on both ends for us tonight and ‘Freddie’ was a brick wall as well.”
Canadiens Douse Flames
MONTREAL — Brendan Gallagher and Shea Weber scored power-play goals in the first period leading the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-2 victory against the Calgary Flames at Bell Centre.
Josh Anderson and Tyler Toffoli scored in the second for Montreal who are now 5-0-2.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jonathan Drouin each had two assists, and Nick Suzuki had an assist to extend his point streak to seven games (two goals, five assists).
After the win, Weber said, “The guys are excited, guys are playing with passion right now. And it’s different, obviously, with just all-Canadian (Scotia North) division. So we haven’t had a chance to play a whole lot of teams. But at the same time, it’s an opportunity for us to keep growing and getting better, and it’s a short season so it’s going to go fast, and we’ve just got to keep our foot down and keep going.”
Canucks Top Senators to Sweep Series
VANCOUVER – Brock Boeser scored two goals and had an assist lead the Vancouver Canucks in the game and a three-game sweep over the Ottawa Senators with a 4-1 win at Rogers Arena.
Elias Pettersson potted one goal and assisted for two others. Quinn Hughes made two assists in the win.
Goaltender Braden Holtby made 36 saves and had an assist for the Canucks.
Vancouver got back on the winning trail after the team had lost five of its previous six games.
During the three game series against the Senators, the Canucks out-scored the Sens 16-3.
Post-game, Hughes said “The three games here were really big just to get things back on track before things really slide. I think our team has a high standard and everyone wants to win, so we can get down on each other fast, but we pick each other up and to win this series is a good step in the right direction.”
