Matthews scores 31st goal to help Maple Leafs top Senators

TORONTO -- Auston Matthews scored his third NHL hat trick and had an assist to help the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Ottawa Senators 6-5 at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

Matthews leads the NHL with 31 goals and is on pace for 40 this season, which is 56 games. He would be on pace for 62 goals in a normal 82-game 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 for his 11th straight win, setting the NHL record for the most to start a season, and Marner had a goal and three assists for the Maple Leafs (28-10-3), who have won six in a row and are 9-0-1 in their past 10.
"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 set an Ottawa record with a goal in his seventh straight game and had an assist for the Senators (13-25-4), who have lost four straight.
Tim Stutzle
and Drake Batherson each had a goal and an assist, and Anton Forsberg made 32 saves.
"A lot of great plays, but a lot of learning lessons as well," Senators 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."

Matthews' third goal gave Toronto a 4-3 lead at 19:16 of the second period when he took a pass from Marner in the slot and shot over Forsberg's glove.
Ilya Mikheyev ended a seven-game goal drought, making it 5-3 at 4:44 of the third period.
Brown cut it to 5-4 at 7:43 when he scored at the side of the net. He is tied with Matthews for the longest goal streak in the NHL this season; Matthews scored in seven straight from Jan. 24 to Feb. 8.
"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 scored into an empty net with 27 seconds left to make it 6-4.
With Forsberg pulled for an extra attacker, Josh Norris scored a power-play goal with 16 seconds remaining for the 6-5 final.
"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."
The Senators scored three times in 4:23 in the second period to take the lead. Batherson cut it to 2-1 at 12:02, and
Alex Formenton
scored shorthanded on a breakaway to tie it 2-2 at 13:49.
Stutzle put Ottawa up 3-2 at 16:25 when he shot from the top of the left circle after Michael Amadio won a face-off back to him. It was the rookie's first goal since March 8, ending a 13-game drought.
Marner tied it 3-3 27 seconds later when he jammed in a loose puck at the side of the crease at 16:52.

Matthews put Toronto up 1-0 at 8:52 of the first period, then scored again 39 seconds later to make it 2-0 at 9:31.
"Auston shot the puck probably as good as he has in, I don't know, months maybe," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "They (Marner and Matthews) connected today."
NOTES: Matthews is the first United States-born player in NHL history to score 30 goals in each of his first five seasons. He has scored in seven of his past eight games, with 10 goals during that span, and has scored 22 goals in 23 games against the Senators. … Carey Price won his first 10 games for the Montreal Canadiens in 2016-17.