The Canadian Press
Kyle Cicerella
TORONTO–Auston Matthews pushed his point streak to seven games last night.
Linemate William Nylander was the main reason why.
The duo each had two goals and an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 to match a franchise record for points in a season.
Matthews has five goals and 10 points on his recent run to give him 60 points in 60 games. Nylander, meanwhile, is up to 59 points.
They trail only Mitch Marner (69) in team scoring with two regular-season games remaining.
“I feel like we’ve had [chemistry] since we started playing with each other last year and especially with [Zach] Hyman, as well,” said Matthews.
“The more you play with somebody, obviously, you build more chemistry and get to know them and have a feel for where they’re going to be in certain areas,” he noted.
“We definitely showed that tonight.
Andreas Johnsson also scored for the Leafs (48-25-7), who have won 15 of their last 17 games at Air Canada Centre.
“Home’s been pretty good to us and we feel we have an advantage when we step into the arena here,” Matthews said.
Back-up goalie Curtis McElhinney got his second-straight start and stopped 32 shots for the win.
He’s 11-5-1 on the season when starting over Frederik Andersen.
“I’ve obviously enjoyed the winning, run support was there tonight again,” McElhinney noted.
“Makes my job a lot easier.”
Sam Reinhart scored his career-high 24th goal of the season for the last-place Sabres (25-42-12).
Jason Pominville had the other while Chad Johnson made 31 saves in taking the loss.
Buffalo came into the game following a 7-4 win Saturday over the Nashville Predators.
“You think you’re heading in the right direction and then you take a step back,” Pominville said.
Toronto equalled Pat Quinn’s 2003-04 squad for most points in a season with 103, however Quinn’s team did it before the NHL instituted the shootout to break ties.
The Leafs have seven shootout victories this season.
Toronto finishes the season with a game Thursday in New Jersey and then Saturday at home against Montreal.
“We’ve given Freddie [Andersen] more than a long break, so then we’ll give him two games going in [to the post-season],” Leafs’ coach Mike Babcock had said before last night’s game.
Elsewhere in the NHL, Winnipeg topped Ottawa 6-5, Minnesota blanked Edmonton 3-0, Florida edged Carolina 3-2, Washington doubled St. Louis 4-2, and L.A. beat Colorado 3-1.