Matthews gets 100th point, Maple Leafs top Canadiens to gain in Atlantic

MONTREAL -- Auston Matthews scored his 64th goal of the season to reach 100 points for the second time in his career, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Matthews is one goal shy of tying the most in a season among active players. Alex Ovechkin scored 65 goals for the Washington Capitals in 2007-08.

Matthews, who had 106 points (60 goals, 46 assists) in 2021-22, also matched Darryl Sittler and Doug Gilmour as the only Toronto players to have two 100-point seasons.

“Auston’s not a guy that really cares too much about his points, you know, his own milestones,” Toronto forward Mitch Marner said. “Just like all of us have expressed, we have a bigger dream in mind but what he’s been doing this year has been special. And just like we’ve talked about all year, he’s a special player and we’re fortunate to have him.”

Marner had an assist in his first game since March 7 because of a lower-body injury, and Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves for the Maple Leafs (44-23-9), who clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Friday and have won four of five.

“I felt good out there,” Marner said. “I obviously had a lot of support out there with speed and some very skilled players, so I tried to do my thing and make them better as they did the same with me.”

Toronto moved four points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning for third place in the Atlantic Division. The Lightning lost 5-4 at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.

“We’re trying to learn to hold onto leads and I thought we did a good job,” Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves said. “Obviously, they’re going to have a push, but it was too little, too late.”

Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist, and Mike Matheson had two assists for the Canadiens (29-35-12), who have lost three of four (1-3-0) since winning three straight for the first time this season. Sam Montembeault allowed four goals on 12 shots before he was replaced by Cayden Primeau at 7:54 of the second period. Primeau stopped all 18 shots he faced.

“We knew it wasn’t [Montembeault’s] fault,” Montreal defenseman David Savard said. “I think it’s just bad bounces and stuff like this and those things happen in a year, in a game, and we wanted to fight back and show what we can do. And I think there’s no quit in this team and we’re going to keep pushing until the end of the year.”

Max Domi gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at 2:21 of the second period when he was left all alone in front of the net and deflected Ilya Lyubushkin’s point shot between Montembeault’s legs.

Matthews scored 17 seconds later on a wraparound that banked into the net off Savard’s skate to make it 2-0 at 2:38.

“He can shoot from everywhere, he’s dangerous from anywhere, so obviously it doesn’t really surprise me from him,” Savard said about Matthews’ goal total. “I think he’s really talented, his shot’s dangerous. Every time he’s got a shot it’s a scoring chance almost, so we have to defend him as a unit of five and obviously it’s a big challenge.”

Matthew Knies extended it to 3-0 at 7:20, scoring around Montembeault’s right pad on the rebound of William Nylander’s shot from the left point.

Bobby McMann pushed it to 4-0 at 7:54. He broke in alone and shot under Montembeault’s arm off Marner’s return pass from the right side.

“With [Marner] back it gives us a lot of different options,” Matthews said. “Obviously, a boost to the power play, a boost to the penalty kill, and a boost for us 5-on-5 and just what he does for the team and his all-around play. So, it’s obviously great to have him back and I thought their line was really good tonight, too.”

Suzuki made it 4-1 with a power-play goal at 9:05, one-timing a shot over Samsonov from the left circle off Juraj Slafkovsky’s cross-ice pass.

Cole Caufield cut it to 4-2 at 18:32 with a shot blocker side off Matheson’s pass from behind the net.

“We turned the puck over too much, got caught out there on long shifts, made bad plays,” Suzuki said. “We were definitely talking about it before the second period started and the same things kind of keep happening. And I’d love to not be in that position to try to come back every game after the second but that’s something that we’ve got to work on.”

NOTES: Matthews’ goal was his 29th on the road this season, surpassing his own Maple Leafs record set in 2021-22. … Matthews is the fourth NHL player to already have 60 goals when he got his 100th point. Brett Hull accomplished the feat three times (64 goals in 1989-90; 68 in 1990-91; and 62 in 1991-92) with the St. Louis Blues, along with Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders (61 in 1980-81) and Alexander Mogilny of the Buffalo Sabres (63 in 1992-93). … Montreal was without defensemen Kaiden Guhle and Arber Xhekaj, each of whome was out with an upper-body injury. Guhle is day-to-day, and Xhekaj’s status will be updated once his injury is further assessed.