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William Nylander, Michael Bunting and Ilya Mikheyev all had two goals each, Auston Matthews had 101 points with two assists and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Washington Capitals 7-3 on Thursday night.
Ilya Lyubushkin also scored and captain John Tavares had four assists to help the Maple Leafs improve to 48-20-6, a win that fell short of the 2017-18 club record.
Matthews — with 58 goals and 43 assists — became the third player in Toronto history to have 100 or more points. Darryl Sittler had 117 in 1977-78 and Doug Gilmour had 127 in 1992-93 and 111 in 1993-94.
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Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) and goalie Jack Campbell (36) celebrate the team’s 7-3 win over the Washington Capitals in an NHL hockey game Thursday, April 14, 2022, in Toronto.
(Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
“It’s humiliating to be mentioned with those two guys,” Matthews said. “They paved the way for us and did a lot for this team and this city.”
Matthews has gone two games without a goal but has already set the club record. With eight games left, he has two chances to become the first US-born player to score 60 goals.
Nylander had his 29th and 30th goals. Mitch Marner also had an assist to hit the 60-assist mark for the second time in his career. Jack Campbell made 22 saves for Toronto.
“It was a full game from us,” Matthews said.
John Carlson, Tom Wilson and Nic Dowd scored for Washington. The Capitals had won four times in a row.
Bunting grabbed a 17-game goal drought. “It will boost his confidence,” Matthews said. “He’s a big part of the success of our line.”
Toronto fourth liner Kyle Clifford struggled with Tom Wilson after the Washington player crashed into Campbell and sent the goalie’s mask flying.
“I just grabbed the puck,” Campbell said. “It was a hockey game. I met him at the All-Star game and I thought he was a nice guy.”
Wilson received a minor goalkeeping disturbance late in the first period and then struggled against Clifford in the second period.
NEXT
Capitals: In Montreal on Saturday night.
Maple Leafs: Saturday night in Ottawa.
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