Matthews scores twice, Maple Leafs defeat Flames for fourth straight win

CALGARY -- Auston Matthews scored two goals for the Toronto Maple Leafs in their fourth straight win, 5-3 against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday.

John Tavares had a goal and an assist to reach 800 NHL points for Toronto (26-10-3), which has won seven of eight (7-0-1), including 4-2 on Sunday in the first of back-to-back games at Calgary.
"There's nights when we really don't have that skill, you're not going to have it every night, but we play the right way, we find ways to win, and then other nights we're just completely buzzing and our talent's pretty impressive up front and on the back end," Maple Leafs goalie Jack Campbell said. "It's just really fun to be a part of. We still have a lot of work to do. It's a fun time, and we're just going to try to keep getting better."

Campbell made 26 saves to improve to 9-0-0, tying him for the longest winning streak by a goalie in Toronto history with Felix Potvin (Oct. 7-28, 1993), Jacques Plante (Dec. 12, 1970-Jan. 9, 1971) and John Ross Roach (Jan. 31-Feb. 28, 1925).
"You don't get those wins without everybody," Campbell said. "Tonight, we got a huge contribution from the power play and kind of put the game away. We've just been building our game all year. It's really coming full circle here. I'm liking the boys' effort and we're just trying to get better every night. The record's a huge honor to be tied or whatnot, but it's just all about winning."
Mikael Backlund scored two goals for Calgary (16-21-3), which has lost four straight and is 2-9-0 since a three-game winning streak that started when Darryl Sutter took over as coach March 11. Jacob Markstrom made 25 saves.
"We're not scoring and we're not giving up a whole lot, but when we do, it feels like it's in the net," Backlund said. "We're just giving up too big of chances when we do give chances. I feel like there's a lot of close games. We do keep it tight but just didn't score enough. When we give up chances, they're usually big ones and they're usually in the net. It's just a bad cycle. It has been for a while. We have to stop it."
Matthews scored his NHL-leading 27th goal on a scramble in front on the power play to put the Maple Leafs ahead 4-3 at 10:50 of the third period. Tavares had an assist to reach the milestone.
"It wasn't a pretty one by any means, but it was a nice one to get our power play back on track and obviously a big goal in the game," Matthews said.

Matthews' second of the game came 45 seconds after Backlund scored his second shorthanded to tie the game 3-3 at 10:05, prompting Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe to call a timeout.
"It's tough. We battled," Backlund said. "We find a way to tie the game, and then they come back and beat us by two anyways. It's really hard. It's frustrating. It's happened not just tonight. It's happened to us too much lately. We've got to find a way to turn it around."
Tavares scored to make it 5-3 at 12:10 after winning a battle for the puck with Dillon Dube at the left hash marks.
Jason Spezza gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 3:10 of the second period when he scored on his own rebound from the edge of the crease.
Matthews scored on a wrist shot from the high slot to make it 2-0 at 7:53.
Andrew Mangiapane cut the lead to 2-1 at 18:06, and Backlund tied it 2-2 4:17 into the third period when he shot a loose puck from a scramble after a face-off in the left circle.
Wayne Simmonds scored from his knees on a backdoor pass from Pierre Engvall to put Toronto up 3-2 at 7:13.
NOTES: Matthews' third-period goal was his NHL-leading ninth game-winner. It was Toronto's first power-play goal in 12 games and ended an 0-for-29 drought. ... Markstrom played his 300th NHL game. He is 4-8-1 with a 3.18 goals-against average and an .884 save percentage since March 6.