In Toronto, Auston Matthews scored two of his three goals on the night in the first period for a 2-0 lead to the Maple Leafs.
The quick strikes were not enough to scare off the Ottawa Senators who managed to stick around until the bitter in a 6-5 win for the Leafs.
“Auston shot the puck probably as good as he has in, I don’t know, months maybe,” Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “They (Marner and Matthews) connected today.”
Matthews now has 31 goals on the season.
“It felt really good, it felt really good,” Matthews said. “Those two guys (Mitchell Marner and Alex Galchenyuk) were making plays all night, and I was fortunate to be on the receiving end of a couple nice passes and I just had to put it in the net.”
Jack Campbell made 27 saves in setting an NHL record with his 11th straight win to start a season.
“Oh I definitely owe the boys a nice Red Lobster dinner, that’s for sure,” Campbell said. “Definitely not what I expect out of myself, but thankfully we have a great team and they carried me tonight. It was a fun game honestly, it’s not fun giving up goals and I expect more out of myself, but Ottawa really came to play. The guys played so well in front of me tonight.”
Connor Brown, Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson scored for the Senators.
“A lot of great plays, but a lot of learning lessons as well,” Senators head coach D.J. Smith said. “You get a lead, you’ve got to protect it. We were careless with the puck against their top line and they burn you. We fought to the end, but you’ve got to take care of the puck a lot better against some of the best players in the League.”
Marner and Ilya Mikheyev also scored for the Maple Leafs.
“We started off really well and then obviously let them back into the game,” Matthews said. “The second period has been a problem for us all season long. It definitely wasn’t a pretty one, but we stayed patient and stuck with it, and in the end we came through.”
Alex Formenton had a shorthanded goal for the Senators.
Brown cut the Leafs lead to 5-4 in the third period.
“It means a lot, to be honest,” Brown said. “I feel like I’ve grinded pretty hard in my career. There’s been times I’ve been a checker, but I’ve had a really good opportunity here under D.J. Smith. He’s let me play offensively and find my game, and I really feel like I’m finding it more and more.”
Zach Hyman potted a much needed empty-net goal for Toronto because Josh Norris scored a power-play marker to make the 6-5 final.
Anton Forsberg made 32 saves in the loss.
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