Matthews' two goals help Maple Leafs stay hot with win against Canucks

TORONTO -- Auston Matthews scored twice to extend his goal streak to seven games for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 5-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

"We were just consistent throughout the whole game," said Matthews, who has scored nine goals during his streak. "We didn't have any big lapses. They had their chances, but we really stuck with our structure and forced them to the outside for a full 60 minutes, so I think it was a really solid game for us."
Wayne Simmonds scored twice, Zach Hyman had a goal and an assist, and Mitchell Marner had three assists for the Maple Leafs (9-2-1), who have a seven-game point streak (6-0-1). Frederik Andersen made 27 saves.
"Vancouver had their pushes, but I did like our start, we knew that was going to be really important tonight," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We wanted to establish our game, and I thought we were able to do that. Vancouver pushed back pretty hard in the last seven or eight minutes of the first period, but we were able to extend our lead in the second, which was really important."

Brock Boeser scored, and Braden Holtby made 26 saves for the Canucks (6-9-0), who have lost four in a row, including 7-3 to the Maple Leafs here Thursday.
"When you have a bad game you've got to come out flying and be ready to play right from the start," Holtby said. "You never know if you're going to win or lose. But you need a response, and we don't have that yet. We've got to get on the same page. We're a disconnected group right now and it's showing. It's frustrating. If we want to be a good team, we've got to have everyone pulling the same rope. And that's what we work towards from now on."
The teams play again here Monday to end the three-game set.
Simmonds put the Maple Leafs up 1-0 at 4:42 of the first period with a power-play goal when he shot over Holtby's right shoulder from the left side of the crease. Marner assisted on the goal to extend his point streak to seven games (14 points; three goals, 11 assists).
"I've seen that goal a couple of times when he was with the Philadelphia Flyers, but that was really impressive to see with my own eyes tonight," Marner said.
Matthews made it 2-0 at 14:04 when got around Vancouver defenseman Jalen Chatfield in the slot and shot over Holtby's glove.
"He does [do things that surprise me] but I think that speaks to his ability and how special he is," Keefe said. "That goal, it happened so fast that I don't think anybody on the ice was really ready for it, just how quickly he went from going around a defender to putting it in the net. All season he's been really good for us, but these last two games, he's really had jump."

Hyman extended the lead to 3-0 at 7:36 of the second period when he beat Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler to the net and deflected a pass from Mikko Lehtonen.
J.T. Miller scored for the Canucks at 14:45 but the goal was disallowed after the Maple Leafs challenged for offside.
Toronto went up 4-0 at 1:28 of the third period when Matthews intercepted a clearing pass from Holtby and skated in alone. The goal was his 10th of the season, giving him the NHL lead and his second consecutive two-goal game.
"I try to have the same mindset whether the puck is going in or not, and just every time you shoot it believing that the next one is going in," Matthews said.
Simmonds deflected Lehtonen's point shot in the slot at 3:16 to make it 5-0 and give him five goals in his past six games.
Boeser ended the shutout with 2:04 left when he deflected Quinn Hughes' point shot in the slot on the power play to make it 5-1.
"They have a quick team, they're a good team," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "They deserved to win tonight. They played better than we did. They were quicker. They made more plays than we did, completed more passes than we did."
NOTES: Simmonds left the game at 10:25 of the third after blocking a shot. Keefe had no update and said the forward was being evaluated. … Canucks forwards Loui Eriksson (two shots, minus-2 in 9:16 of ice time) and Justin Bailey (two shots, 6:32) each made his season debut. … Vancouver has allowed 23 goals in its past four games. … Canucks forward Tyler Motte had seven hits.