Matthews' goal streak ends at eight, Maple Leafs defeat Canadiens

MONTREAL -- Justin Holl and Ilya Mikheyev scored 42 seconds apart in the third period, and the Toronto Maple Leafs won their fourth straight, 4-2 against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Wednesday.

Auston Matthews, who did not score for the first time in nine games, extended his personal point streak to 11 with an assist for Toronto (11-2-1), which has a nine-game point streak (8-0-1).
"There were just periods in the game where they kind of put their foot on the gas and we were back on our heels, and vice versa," Matthews said. "So that's a good team over there all throughout their lineup. They've got a lot of depth, great goaltending, and they play really tight defensively. So I think it's a testament to our game tonight, just sticking with it and big goals by our guys, and hanging on at the end."
Josh Anderson and Tomas Tatar scored for Montreal (8-3-2), which has lost three of six since starting 5-0-2. Carey Price made 20 saves.
"I think today it was a disappointing loss because I don't think we were that bad," Canadiens forward Joel Armia said. "There's some areas we have to be better, and things like winning battles and staying strong on the puck, but I don't know what the reason is for that."

Frederik Andersen made 33 saves in his seventh straight start, and Jake Muzzin had three assists for the Maple Leafs.
"We didn't give them much at all," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "In fact I had this the lowest number of scoring chances we gave up all season."
Anderson scored for a fourth straight game, on Montreal's first shot. He drove the right side and scored his ninth goal for a 1-0 lead at 1:16 of the first period.
"Coming into this game we knew that it was going to be a challenge," Anderson said. "I thought we set the tempo for the start of the game and overall played pretty good. It was just a few bounces went their way tonight and they capitalized."
Toronto tied it at 1-1 at 15:18 of the second period when Travis Dermott scored after the Canadiens were unable to get the puck out of their zone during 4-on-4 play.
Dermott, who missed the past two games because of a leg injury, sent a wrist shot over Price's right shoulder for his first goal since Jan. 2, 2020 (37 games).
"Four times we had the puck and gave it back to them in our zone before they scored that goal," Montreal coach Claude Julien said. "So that took the wind out of our sails a bit and gave them some energy."

Mikheyev put the Maple Leafs up 2-1 at 1:50 of the third when he scored his first goal since Dec. 27, 2019 (14 games) during another 4-on-4 sequence.
John Tavares set up Holl's goal that made it 3-1 with a pass back to the right point. Holl carried the puck toward the middle and scored his first goal of the season on a rising slap shot from the top of the slot at 2:32.
Tatar got the Canadiens within 3-2 with his fourth goal at 16:40.
Matthews got his assist when Zach Hyman scored into an empty net to make it 4-2 with 1:04 remaining. He has scored 15 points (11 goals, four assists) during his streak.
"Most importantly it was a good win," Tavares said. "Obviously a lot of importance on the game and the guys were excited about the opportunity knowing it's a strong Montreal team. It wasn't our best for the first two periods but we got better as the game went on and we didn't give up a lot and just got our game going."
NOTES: Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner had an eight-game point streak end (15 points; three goals, 12 assists). … Armia had one takeaway in 15:25 after missing seven games because of a concussion. … Anderson has six points (five goals, one assist) during a five-game point streak. His goal streak tied the longest by a player in his first season with the Canadiens set by Didier Pitre in 1917-18 and matched by Erik Cole in 2011-12. He was traded to the Canadiens from the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 6.
NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger contributed to this report