Matthews gets 100th point, Maple Leafs cruise past Capitals

TORONTO -- Auston Matthews became the third player to get 100 points in a season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, helping them to a 7-3 victory against the Washington Capitals at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

He had two assists and joined Darryl Sittler (100 in 1975-76, 117 in 1977-78) and Doug Gilmour (127 in 1992-93, 111 in 1993-94), who each got 100 points twice.
"It's humbling," Matthews said. "I mean I feel like I just keep repeating myself but obviously to be mentioned with those two guys, what they were able to do for this team and this city and kind of paving the way for guys like myself and the guys that are here now. It's a big honor but it didn't happen without the guys on this team and the guys I play with every single night. It's certainly not about me, I think it's a team accomplishment and obviously tonight was a big bounce-back win for us against a really good team."
William Nylander, Michael Bunting and Ilya Mikheyev each scored twice, and John Tavares had four assists for the Maple Leafs (48-20-6), who remained four points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning for second place in the Atlantic Division. Jack Campbell made 22 saves.
"That's big," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said of the balanced scoring. "For quite a while, almost everything was happening off [Matthews and Marner]. Those guys, their confidence is really high but we had a number of other guys waiting to break out and wanting to contribute and needing to contribute because the reality is there's going to be times when those guys (Matthews and Marner), for whatever reason, the puck is not going to go in the net. We need to have other guys feeling good about their game, confident in their ability to score."

John Carlson, Tom Wilson and Nic Dowd scored for the Capitals (41-23-10), who had won four straight. They fell five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division and remained three points behind the Boston Bruins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Ilya Samsonov made 15 saves on 19 shots before being replaced by Vitek Vanecek, who made 10 saves.
"From the start there, they were coming out harder," Washington center Nicklas Backstrom said. "They were first on pucks and we weren't really there, I think. It's one of those games you want to forget."
Bunting put the Maple Leafs ahead 1-0 at 4:37 of the first period with a one-timer from just below the left hash marks off a pass from Mitchell Marner. Matthews got an assist, picking the puck off the sideboards and getting it to Marner with a pass between his legs for his 100th point.
It was Bunting's first goal in 18 games.
"It felt good," said Bunting, who had 12 assists during the goal drought. "Obviously I was a little dry there for a little bit, but that's hockey. There's ups and downs and you can't get too low on the lows. It felt good to get one in, but more importantly [Matthews] got his 100th point there, so that was a pretty special moment for the whole team.
"Anybody who says (the goal drought) isn't (weighing on you) is probably lying, so obviously it was in my mind a little bit, but we were winning and my line was producing and we were going really well, so I couldn't let that get in my way of playing my game."
Nylander made it 2-0 with a slap shot on the rush at 13:34 after taking a stretch pass from Pierre Engvall.
Carlson cut it 2-1 at 10:08 of the second period when he got around Toronto defenseman Jake Muzzin, cut to the net and scored around Campbell's outstretched left pad.
Ilya Lyubushkin gave the Maple Leafs a 3-1 lead at 10:19 with a slap shot from just inside the blue line. It was his first goal in 23 games with the Maple Leafs since being traded from the Arizona Coyotes on Feb. 19 and his second goal in his 203rd NHL game.
"The guys were pumped, yeah, the guys were excited, the fans were excited," Keefe said. "That was pretty cool for him. He's played really well for us. His family has just come into Toronto, they'd been in Arizona for a long time and they just got back here, it was the second game they'd been here. For him to score tonight and continue to play well, we're happy for him."
Nylander pushed the lead to 4-1, tapping in a puck on the goal line at the left post 18 seconds later at 10:37. Samsonov was pulled immediately following the goal.

Mikheyev made it 5-1 at 14:44 at the side of the net off a feed from Matthews. The assist gave Matthews 101 points (58 goals, 43 assists) in 69 games.
Bunting extended the lead to 6-1 at 16:25, and Wilson cut it to 6-2 with 53 seconds left on a one-timer from the left face-off circle.
Mikheyev made it 7-2 at 1:27 of the third period.
Dowd pulled Washington within 7-3 at 11:58 on a rebound at the top of the crease.
"In the first, we didn't do a good enough job of getting back and supporting each other, all five guys," Dowd said. "Toronto did a good job of getting pucks in early and then maintaining a forecheck, and that's where their chances and their goals came from, for the most part."
NOTES: Matthews became the third United States-born player in 25 years to get 100 points in a season, joining Patrick Kane (2015-16, 2018-19 for the Chicago Blackhawks) and Johnny Gaudreau (2021-22 for the Calgary Flames). ... Morgan Rielly had two assists, becoming the 16th player and fifth defenseman to get 300 with the Maple Leafs. He has 370 points (69 goals, 301 assists) in 646 NHL games, all with Toronto. ... Tavares' second assist gave him 500 in the NHL. He has 892 points (390 goals and 502 assists) in 943 games.