Aston-Reese scores twice for Maple Leafs in win against Hurricanes

TORONTO --Zach Aston-Reese scored twice for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 5-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Scotiabank Arena on Friday.

It was the fourth time in his NHL career (293 games) that Aston-Reese has scored twice in a game. He has never had an NHL hat trick.
"It definitely felt good," Aston-Reese said. "It's always easy to play the rest of the game when you score on your first shift. They were pretty easy goals for me to put in. [Erik] Gustafsson with a great shot [to deflect], a great move by him too with that little shimmy at the top to get free, and then [Sam] Lafferty with a great sauce pass. I was hoping for the third but I'm happy with the night."
Morgan Rielly had a goal and an assist, John Tavares and Calle Jarnkrok each had two assists and Ilya Samsonov made 32 saves for the Maple Leafs (41-18-9), who moved three points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning for second in the Atlantic Division.
"For the most part, I thought we did a really good job defensively and I thought we moved the puck really well coming out of our end tonight, which has been an issue for us in recent games," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "And tonight we are playing against a team that's maybe the hardest in the League to come out of your zone against."

Brady Skjei and Martin Necas scored, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 19 saves for the Hurricanes (44-15-8), who lost for the third time in four games. Carolina leads the New Jersey Devils by one point for first in the Metropolitan Division with one game in hand.
"A team with that skill level, you just can't be giving them chances, and we gave them, I feel like every chance we gave them, it was a Grade A chance that ended up in the back of our net," Carolina forward Jordan Martinook said. "You've got to be able to stick with your game plan and just stay tight, stay above people, don't let their skilled guys get behind you, and we let that happen too many times tonight."
The Maple Leafs went up 1-0 at 2:54 of the first period when Aston-Reese tipped Gustafsson's shot in the slot.
Mitchell Marner made it 2-0 at 12:30 when he got around Necas to the outside just inside the blue line and shot low blocker from just below the right face-off dot. It was his 25th goal of the season.

Skjei cut it to 2-1 at 14:37 when he shot under Samsonov's glove from the left dot.
Auston Matthews made it 3-1 at 17:38 on the power play. Tavares' shot deflected off Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce below the right dot before ricocheting off Matthews' right leg at the top of the crease. It was his fourth goal in five games.
Necas cut it to 3-2 at 10:45 of the second period after taking a pass from Teuvo Teravainen and shooting past Samsonov's glove just below the right dot.
Aston-Reese put Toronto up 4-2 at 14:59. After Necas overskated the puck at the red line, Lafferty collected it, skated into the zone and found Aston-Reese with a cross-crease pass for a tap-in.
"It's great when those guys are able to get on the board and score and be a part of the offense. It's awesome for our group," Rielly said. "I think our guys really feed off it. They do a lot for our team that goes unnoticed and untalked about."

Rielly made it 5-2 at 8:56 of the third period when he carried the puck on a 2-on-1 with Matthews and shot over Kochetkov's right shoulder from just outside the left hash marks.
"With Auston, you are obviously looking to pass if you are with him," Rielly said. "I thought their defenseman did a good job of taking it away, so I just tried to pick a corner. I was thinking pass the whole time because of who you are out there with."
NOTES:It was the first time Aston-Reese scored twice since Oct. 13, 2019, with the Pittsburgh Penguins. ... Maple Leafs forward Noel Acciari left at 19:45 of the first period after taking an inadvertent hit to the head from Hurricanes forward Jesse Puljujarvi. Keefe said Acciari will not be with the Maple Leafs for their game at the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Keefe also said defenseman Justin Holl, who was a healthy scratch, and forward Wayne Simmonds, who has not played since Feb. 1, will play Saturday. … Marner has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in a five-game point streak. … Carolina defenseman Jalen Chatfield was minus-1 in 14:45 after missing four games with an upper-body injury. … The Hurricanes had been 28-for-28 on the penalty kill in the previous 12 games before Matthews scored. Their record without allowing a power-play goal is 13, from Dec. 21, 2014-Jan. 17, 2015.