Maple Leafs score three straight in third, defeat Ducks

TORONTO -- Auston Matthews and William Nylander each had two goals and an assist to help the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 7-4 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Air Canada Centre on Monday.

"Definitely a good bounce-back game for us (after losing 4-1 at the Boston Bruins on Saturday)," Matthews said. "It was kind of a back-and-forth game, but we showed some resilience, stayed with it, and we're happy with the two points. We wanted to get off to a good start. Our line (with Nylander and Zach Hyman) wasn't happy with our performance on Saturday."
WATCH: [All Ducks vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Defenseman Jake Gardiner had three assists, and Curtis McElhinney made 15 saves in relief for the Maple Leafs (31-19-5), who have won five of six games.
Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen left the game with 6:15 remaining in the second period after Anaheim forward Corey Perry kicked him in the head. He allowed three goals on 25 shots.

"It's an unfortunate thing; I know they have a couple guys who go to the net pretty hard and you don't want to see anybody go down like that," McElhinney said. "Hopefully, [Andersen] is all right, but I was able to make the most of it when I went in there. I felt a little sluggish, I would say. Sometimes, those situations are difficult to get into, but I thought we responded pretty well when I went in there."
Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said Andersen appeared to be fine after the game.
"He seems good, but we'll see what goes on tomorrow (at practice)," Babcock said.
Rickard Rakell scored two goals, and Perry tied an NHL career high with four assists for the Ducks (25-19-10), who have lost three games in a row (0-2-1) and allowed 12 goals in their past two.

"We're not going to beat anybody 8-7, I'll tell you that. Overall as a group, we just have to play better," Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf said. "We have to be [ticked] off in here after these last three games, and the way we've played defensive hockey is abysmal, giving up over five goals a night."
Nylander took a pass from Gardiner for a breakaway and scored to put the Maple Leafs up 5-4 at 3:28 of the third period.
Matthews made it 6-4 with his 25th goal at 16:49, and Hyman scored into an empty net with 54 seconds left to make it 7-4.
"It's not terrible, but we'd like to clean up a few things," said Ducks goalie Ryan Miller, who allowed six goals on 39 shots. "I thought the third-period goals were things we could just clean up by structure."
Rakell tied it 4-4 at 2:07 of the third when his shot from the goal line banked off McElhinney.

Leo Komarov deflected a Gardiner point shot past Miller in the slot at 17:40 of the second period to give the Maple Leafs a 4-3 lead.
The Ducks went up 3-2 at 11:06 when Ondrej Kase scored on the power play. Mitchell Marner tied it 3-3 with a power-play goal at 15:28 when he took a pass from Nazem Kadri in the slot and shot past Miller's glove.
Nylander scored at 5:52 of the second to make it 2-1, but Rakell tied it 2-2 with his 20th goal at 8:23 when he took a pass from Getzlaf and put it past a sprawling Andersen.
Matthews got around Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa at the left face-off circle and scored on a wraparound at 6:32 of the first period to put the Maple Leafs up 1-0.
Getzlaf tied it 1-1 when he took a pass in the slot from Rakell and shot past Andersen's glove 43 seconds into the second period.

Goal of the game

Nylander's goal at 3:28 of the third period.

Save of the game

McElhinney stopping Andrew Cogliano at 14:07 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Rakell's goal at 8:23 of the second period.

They said it

"You score four goals, you got to win hockey games. Simple as that. We left our goaltender hanging in a few situations." -- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle
"We've got our faith in [Curtis McElhinney]. He's come up big for us, he came up big for us tonight and made some big saves. But obviously when a big piece of your team like [goalie Frederik Andersen] goes down in the middle of the game, everyone kind of wants to rally around and be better for one another, but obviously [McElhinney] played really well." -- Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews

Need to know

It was Gardiner's third three-assist game in his past eight. ... Perry also had four assists Oct. 31, 2008, against the Vancouver Canucks. … Rakell has three goals and five assists in a four-game point streak. ... Getzlaf ended a four-game point drought. ... The Maple Leafs scored at least seven goals for the NHL-leading fifth time this season. ... Kadri has three goals and five assists in a six-game point streak.

What's next

Ducks:At the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, PRIME, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: Host the Nashville Predators on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SN, TVA Sports, FS-TN, NHL.TV)