Auston Matthews scored for the first time since returning from an injury and the Toronto Maple Leafs went on to defeat the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Monday night.
John Tavares, Fraser Minten and Matthew Knies also scored for the Maple Leafs, who have won two in a row. Mitch Marner added two assists and Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves.
Lukas Reichel scored for the Blackhawks, who have lost three in a row. Chicago goaltender Arvid Soderblom stopped 18 shots.
Marner nearly got the Maple Leafs on the board right away when he hit the crossbar with a 39-foot shot at 1:39 of the first period.
Toronto broke through when Matthews scored his sixth goal of the season at 15:35 of the first period. William Nylander set up the play, taking an outlet pass from Oliver Ekman-Larsson and weaving down the right wing before making a saucer pass to an unchecked Matthews in the slot.
It was Matthews’ first goal since missing nine games with an upper-body injury. He had two assists upon making his return on Saturday, a 5-3 road win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Chicago had a five-on-three power play for 28 seconds starting at 3:39 of the second period, but Stolarz was solid.
The Maple Leafs extended the lead on the 11th goal of the season by Tavares at 11:59 of the second period. Tavares spun around to take a random 34-foot shot from the right circle. The puck deflected off a defender and found its way into the net.
Reichel jammed in his third goal of the season from in front of the net at 3:26 of the third period.
Toronto regained the two-goal margin when Minten scored 21 seconds later with his second goal of the season on a 17-foot shot after the puck bounced to him off the end boards.
Chicago went on a power play at 14:31 of the third period but did not get a shot on goal.
Knies scored into an empty net at 18:15 of the third for his 10th goal.
Toronto’s Jake McCabe (upper-body injury) did not play.
–Field Level Media
