Matthew Knies scored his first career hat trick and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 6-4 on Saturday.
Auston Matthews contributed to two of those goals in his return to the game, in addition to scoring into an empty net. The star player had missed his team’s last six games due to an upper-body injury, the same one that kept him sidelined for most of November.
The Leafs have done well in the absence of their captain as demonstrated by their 10-5-0 record during his two stays on the floor, but with him, the first line was operating at full capacity tonight.
Knies also added two assists, while Mitch Marner also had a five-point night with a goal and four assists.
Matthews initially provided an assist on Knies’ 12th goal of the season to take a 2-0 lead early in the second period, amassing at least one point in the last five games he played. He headed a shot toward the net and Knies deftly deflected it over Jeremy Swayman’s left shoulder.
Morgan Geekie, however, responded just 12 seconds later by jumping on a puck that Joseph Woll had briefly lost sight of.
Trent Frederic then brought the two teams back to level.
Knies hit the target twice in the third period to give his team the lead again. Matthews helped him complete his hat-trick by winning a battle along the boards to hand him the puck in the slot. He is the third Toronto player to get a hat trick this season after John Tavares and Mitch Marner.
Jake McCabe opened the scoring and Joseph Woll stopped 26 shots. The Leafs are 17-2-1 when scoring the first goal.
David Pastrnak scored twice in the loss.
The Jackets are having a blast
Dmitri Voronkov scored a double and the Blue Jackets defeated the St. Louis Blues 6-4 in Columbus.
Kirill Marchenko, Adam Fantilli, Mathieu Oliver and Mikael Pyyhtia also lit the red light for the Blue Jackets, who are 5-2-1 in their last eight games.
With two assists, defenseman Zach Werenski increased his streak of games at home with at least one point to 15.
He became the ninth defenseman to achieve the feat and the first since Ray Bourque in 1992-93
Ivan Provorov and Sean Monahan each had three assists and Elvis Merzlikins made 29 saves. For Monahan, it’s a 40th point in as many games this season.
Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou both had a goal and an assist while Cam Fowler collected the 100th goal of his career in addition to collecting an assist.
Colton Parayko also threaded the needle. Joel Hofer stopped 33 shots in this second defeat in six games for the Blues.
Detroit continues its streak against Winnipeg
Dylan Larkin scored twice to extend his point streak to five games and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Jets 4-2 in Winnipeg.
Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat also threaded the needle for the Michigan team, which signed a fourth victory in a row. Alex Lyon stopped 21 pucks.
Raymond became the third Wings player in the last 10 years to record 40 or more points in 40 games.
By playing a 285th consecutive game without interruption, Moritz Seider established a new mark for defensemen in Red Wings history, ahead of Nicklas Lidstrom (284). For the occasion, he prepared two goals for his team, just like his teammate Patrick Kane.
Josh Morrissey and Nikolaj Ehlers responded for the Jets, who lost a third game in a row.
Connor Hellebuyck blocked 25 shots. With his next victory, the American goalkeeper will obtain the 300th victory of his career.
The Canes handcuffed against the Wild
Mats Zuccarello scored two goals and an assist to help the Minnesota Wild defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0 in Raleigh.
Filip Gustavsson stopped 20 pucks to record his third shutout of the season and his ninth career.
Matt Boldy also shone with a performance of one goal and two assists, as did Marco Rossi, with four assists, in this third straight victory for the Wild. Joel Eriksson Ek was the other scorer of the match.
The Wild had to make do without their leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov (lower body) and captain Jared Spurgeon (leg).
The Hurricanes were shut out for the third time this season.
