In Toronto, Auston Matthews scored twice in the second period on Thursday, to give the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead over the Winnipeg Jets.
Mitchell Marner extended the lead to 3-0 headed to the third period, in a 4-1 win over the Jets.
“It’s a big win for us, but the game definitely could have been a lot closer had it not been for [Ilya Samsonov], so obviously he was dialed in tonight,” Matthews said. “It was a huge effort by him.”
Samsonov made 37 saves in the win.
“I like it was a win first off, two points were great for us,” Samsonov said. “I like it how the team was moving and how the defensemen were in the defensive zone. It was a very good job today, we stayed strong, we stayed focused on the game. It’s unbelievable. Two points and we keep rolling.”
Kyle Connor was the lone striker for the Jets, his goal came in the third period.
The Jets dropped to 29-16-1.
“We played really well. We had a much better effort, much better compete,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “The mistakes we made with their best players on the ice were glaring. To me, we gave them the first three goals, that’s all on us. You give those guys, Matthews and Marner, those chances, they’re going to score. We had some great looks. Their goalie, we couldn’t get that timely goal that I talked a lot about, and their goalie made a lot of big saves for them. It was a much better effort, much better compete. The score was the same (as against Montreal), I get that.”
Toronto improved to 28-11-7.
“I just tried to make a play, and I was able to kind of break in on a mini 2-on-1 and just saw an opening and tried to take it,” Matthews said. “I was able to sneak it by him and just tried not to look back from there.”
Mark Giordano added a late empty-net goal for the 4-1 final.
Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves in the loss.
“Losing is not fun,” Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois said. “We say that good teams don’t lose two in a row, and that’s two in a row. We’ve looked at our past couple of seven or eight games here, and it’s not the hockey that we’ve played all year that’s made us successful. Sometimes you’re lucky enough with a goalie like that to get a win even if you don’t play your best. We know that kind of hides sometimes the mistakes that you make. Right now, Hellebuyck is still giving us a chance to win, but we can do a lot better out there.”
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