TORONTO — Franchise rookie records continued to fall as the Toronto Maple Leafs kept on rolling toward the post-season.
Auston Matthews (two assists) and William Nylander (one goal, one assist) had two points apiece as the Leafs picked up their seventh win in the last nine games (7-1-1), a 4-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. Toronto (85 points) increased their lead over Boston (82) to three points for third spot in the Atlantic Division, the Bruins falling at home against Tampa.
Nylander set a franchise rookie mark by extending his points streak to 10 games, while equalling another mark for power-play points. Mitch Marner also matched a club rookie record for assists, setting up James van Riemsdyk’s 23rd of the season.
Connor Brown also scored for the Leafs (35-23-15) and Curtis McElhinney made 30 saves to earn the win.
John Moore scored both goals for the Devils (27-34-12) with Keith Kinkaid yielding three goals on 29 shots.
Rolling of late and coming off a thorough 5-2 win in Columbus on Wednesday night, the Leafs were faced with a potential trap game against a Devils squad which sat third-last in the NHL and hadn’t won on the road since Feb. 4 — a seven game spell. Toronto entered the night a point up on Boston for third spot in the division while holding a game in hand.
The action started ominously for the home team though with Moore’s innocent shot (the Devils first of the game) from below the right face-off circle somehow sneaking between McElhinney’s pads about three minutes in. The 33-year-old McElhinney was starting for the first time since a March 3 loss in Anaheim.
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His squad responded from the sour goal quickly on a power play less than three minutes later.
Kinkaid stopped Matthews’s initial attempt from the right face-off circle, but struggled to smother the rebound, Leivo stuffing it into the goal. Leivo, who also drew the penalty that led to the man advantage, was getting his first chance to play since Feb. 28 — a healthy scratch in the previous 10 games — stepping into the lineup for an injured Eric Fehr (hand).
Adding an assist on the play and his first point of the evening, Nylander extended his points streak to 10 games to set a new franchise rookie record (12 points). The 20-year-old also notched his 25th power-play point of the year to match Dan Daoust’s franchise rookie mark (1982-83).
Later in the period, following a handoff from Matthews, Nylander snapped his 21st goal of the year. He has 11 goals and 25 points since Feb. 1 to lead the Leafs, totalling 56 points on the season.
Rookies continued to dent the Leaf record book early in the second. Coming down the right side Mitch Marner fired a shot off the right pad of Kinkaid that kicked straight to van Riemsdyk, who promptly banged in the goal for a 3-1 lead. Marner notched his 40th assist of the season to equal Gus Bodnar’s rookie mark for assists (1943-44).
Matthews remains one goal from matching Wendel Clark’s rookie franchise record of 34 and six points from tying Peter Ihnacak’s rookie franchise mark for points (66). His two-point outing against the Devils gave the 19-year-old the third-highest scoring season ever from a Leafs rookie, trailing only Ihnacak and Bodnar (62).
Tyler Bozak also picked up an assist on the van Riemsdyk goal to establish a new career-high with 50 points.
Nylander nearly scored again in a second period the Leafs owned, his shot from the slot stopped by Kinkaid. Toronto had 24 shot attempts (five-on-five) in the middle frame to just seven for New Jersey, puck possession approaching 70 per cent for the Leafs.
Thursday’s action took a nasty turn about seven minutes into the third when Matt Hunwick delivered a high hard hit on Kyle Palmieri. Travis Zajac immediately went after Hunwick (dealt a minor for boarding), but he was quickly jumped by veteran Leafs centre Brian Boyle, the two trading blows in a spirited scrap.
The Devils scored at the tail end of the ensuing power play, Moore’s point shot beating McElhinney as Joseph Blandisi crashed the crease. The Leafs challenge for goalie interference was denied.
Brown added an empty-netter.
Toronto played Thursday without veteran defenceman Roman Polak, who was serving the first game of a two-game suspension for a hit on Columbus’s Oliver Bjorkstrand one night earlier.
