TORONTO (AP) – Auston Matthews scored twice in the second period, Ilya Samosonov made 37 goals, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 on Thursday night.
Mitch Marner and Mark Giordano also scored for Toronto in an empty net, and Michael Bunting added two assists.
Kyle Connor scored for Winnipeg and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 23 shots.
The Jets, who entered as the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed, had plenty of drama in the first period – outscoring Toronto 16-6, in a period where Samsonov had to be on his toes – but the Maple Leafs had the best chance when Matthews fired a shot over Hellebuyck’s crossbar on the breakaway.
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Last season’s 60-goal man finally found the range eight seconds into the middle period when he stepped around Mark Scheuffele and beat Hellebuyck to the fifth-hole.
The Maple Leafs made it 2–0 in less than four minutes when Winnipeg was caught fumbling and Bunting found Matthews in front to rip his 24th.
In a 4-1 loss to Montreal on Tuesday night, the Jets went on the power play with less than seven minutes remaining in the second, but Marner found his 17th past Hellebuyck on a short-handed 2-on-1 by the winger. removed as Built on his franchise record by recording at least one point in 20 straight home games.
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Jets: Saturday night in Ottawa.
Maple Leafs: Saturday Night in Montreal.
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