In Montreal, the Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews hit for his 64th goal of the season, and 100th point on the campaign in a 4-0 win for Toronto over the Canadiens. 
“Auston’s not a guy that really cares too much about his points, you know, his own milestones,” Toronto’s Mitch Marner said. “Just like all of us have expressed, we have a bigger dream in mind but what he’s been doing this year has been special. And just like we’ve talked about all year, he’s a special player and we’re fortunate to have him.”
Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves in the win.
The Maple Leafs moved to 44-23-9.
“I felt good out there,” Marner said. “I obviously had a lot of support out there with speed and some very skilled players, so I tried to do my thing and make them better as they did the same with me.”
Toronto scored four straight to take a 4-0 lead in the game.
After a scoreless first period, Max Domi opened the scoring at 2:21 of the middle frame for a 1-0 lead to the Leafs, scoring after being left unmarked by the Canadiens’ defense at the crease.
Just 17 seconds later, Matthews potted goal for a 2-0 advantage to Toronto.
“He can shoot from everywhere, he’s dangerous from anywhere, so obviously it doesn’t really surprise me from him,” Savard said about Matthews’ goal total. “I think he’s really talented, his shot’s dangerous. Every time he’s got a shot it’s a scoring chance almost, so we have to defend him as a unit of five and obviously it’s a big challenge.”
Matthew Knies ballooned the lead to 3-0 at 7:20, scoring off a rebound.
The Maple Leafs extended the lead to 4-0 at 7:54 with a marker from Bobby McMann, scoring off an uncontested breakaway.
“With [Marner] back it gives us a lot of different options,” Matthews said. “Obviously, a boost to the power play, a boost to the penalty kill, and a boost for us 5-on-5 and just what he does for the team and his all-around play. So, it’s obviously great to have him back and I thought their line was really good tonight, too.”
The Canadiens dropped to 29-35-12.
The Canadiens finally broke through to stop the Leafs run with a power play goal by Nick Suzuki at 9:05 to close the gap to 4-1. He scored off a shot form the elft circle. pass.
Cole Caufield added another goal for the Habs at 18:32 to trim the deficit to 4-2.
“We turned the puck over too much, got caught out there on long shifts, made bad plays,” Suzuki said. “We were definitely talking about it before the second period started and the same things kind of keep happening. And I’d love to not be in that position to try to come back every game after the second but that’s something that we’ve got to work on.”
Sam Montembeault got the start for the Habs, he yielded four goals, making eight saves before getting the hook early in the middle frame.
Cayden Primeau made 18 saves in relief.
“We knew it wasn’t [Montembeault’s] fault,” Montreal’s David Savard said. “I think it’s just bad bounces and stuff like this and those things happen in a year, in a game, and we wanted to fight back and show what we can do. And I think there’s no quit in this team and we’re going to keep pushing until the end of the year.”
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