Matthews extends goal streak in Maple Leafs win against Blue Jackets

TORONTO-- Auston Matthews scored twice to extend his goal streak to seven games for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 5-4 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

"It's good to get back in the win column," Mathews said. "But that third period, obviously the end was a win but letting them come back, there was a lot of things we'd like to clean up and make sure we kept playing like we did in the first two periods."
Morgan Rielly had four assists, and Jack Campbell made 28 saves for the Maple Leafs (18-7-2), who lost the first two of three games in four days.
"We're happy with the result, but the process needs some work, especially late, the entirety of the third with the exception of a couple of minutes," Rielly said. "But to come back after a back-to-back trip and have a home win, that's great, but we need to support our goalie a little bit more at the end."
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice for the Blue Jackets (13-11-0), who have lost five of six. Elvis Merzlikins allowed five goals on 30 shots in two periods. Daniil Tarasov made 10 saves in the third period.
"No quit on our part," Columbus coach Brad Larsen said. "We shot ourselves in the foot on four of the five goals really. It's tough when you play a team like that, you know they are dangerous, and when you gift them some it's tough. You get behind 3-0 and then you really have to chase it, but we went right to the final buzzer there, which was good to see."

Toronto took a 1-0 lead at 4:43 of the first period when William Nylander took a pass from Matthews on the power play. The Blue Jackets challenged for goalie interference but the goal was upheld.
Matthews made it 2-0 at 15:08 when he tapped in a backhand pass from Michael Bunting after Bunting managed to fight off defenseman Jake Bean.
"I thought it was a great pass," Matthews said. "I saw him check over his shoulder, so I just tried to get to the net and he placed it perfectly."
Nick Ritchie scored his first goal with the Maple Leafs to make it 3-0 at 16:30 when he took a pass from Ondrej Kase, who was behind the net, and shot from the slot. The forward, who played his 27th game for Toronto, last scored May 8 playing for the Boston Bruins.
"It felt good," Ritchie said. "It was a big win for us here at home after back-to-back couple of losses. It had been a while (since I scored), a lot of games, probably as long as it's been since I've played hockey. Hopefully I can build some confidence and momentum off that."
Bjorkstrand made it 3-1 with a backhand from the slot on the power play at 11:39 of the second period. He had scored once in his previous 13 games.
"I can build on it," Bjorkstrand said. "It's nice to get some shots on net; it's been a little bit of a struggle. I think I've been battling hard but I had to find a way to get some more chances and I think I did better on that tonight."
Toronto scored twice in seven seconds to push the lead to four goals. John Tavares deflected a point shot from Rielly on the power play at 18:34 to make it 4-1, and Matthews made it 5-1 at 18:41 when he shot five-hole on a 2-on-1 with Wayne Simmonds. Matthews has scored 10 goals during his streak and has scored 17 this season.
"It feels nice to score, I don't know how else to put it, I just try to play hard every night and continue to build chemistry with whether it's Simmonds on that right side or whoever, and then Bunting being with him continuously for the past month or so," Matthews said. "We're just feeding off each other, trying to make plays and be responsible in our own end."

Bjorkstrand deflected a shot from Bean 33 seconds into the third period to make it 5-2, Sean Kuraly scored for a second straight game to cut the lead to 5-3 at 16:25, and Max Domi scored with one second left for the 5-4 final.
"I didn't like much about the game," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We found ways to strike offensively whether it was on the power play or off the rush, but in terms of how we like to play, there wasn't a lot to like about that game tonight. What it tells me is we are a tired group right now."
NOTES: Toronto played without forward Jason Spezza, who on Tuesday was suspended six games by the NHL Department of Player Safety for kneeing Winnipeg Jets defenseman Neal Pionk on Sunday. The suspension was announced during the game. ... Matthews has a goal streaks of seven games in each of the past three seasons. ... The Maple Leafs were without forward Mitchell Marner, who missed a third game with a shoulder injury. Keefe said Marner is expected to be out 3-4 weeks. … Toronto lost to the Minnesota Wild 4-3 on Saturday and to the Jets 6-3 on Sunday.