Matthews has goal, assist in return, Maple Leafs ease past Blackhawks

TORONTO -- Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist in his return from injury, and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.

Matthews missed five games with a knee sprain sustained Jan. 25 against the New York Rangers.
"[I felt] not too bad," Matthews said. "I think obviously the adrenaline kicks in and stuff. I think my energy faded a little bit throughout the game, but I think that's kind of to be expected. But for the most part, I felt pretty good."
William Nylander scored his 30th goal and had two assists, and John Tavares and Rasmus Sandin each had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs (33-14-8). Ilya Samsonov made 27 saves.
"Anytime we made some mistakes or some things didn't go our way, we didn't let it snowball," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We didn't let it get away on us, we brought it back pretty good, so all in all I thought we did what we needed to do tonight.
"Frankly speaking, it's a game we're not going to evaluate too much in terms of anything good, anything bad. We're going to wash it, move on, enjoy a day off tomorrow and get ready for [the] Montreal [Canadiens on Saturday]."

Sam Lafferty and Philipp Kurashev scored, and Petr Mrazek made 37 saves for the Blackhawks (16-32-5), who have lost five of six (1-4-1), including 4-0 at Montreal on Tuesday.
"I thought they obviously came out guns a-blazing," Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. "An unfortunate bounce for [Jake] McCabe, catching an edge and he went down on the first goal, but I thought we reacted well, but then another bounce [off Connor Murphy's stick]. I thought our guys pushed back after two tough bounces, but they really came out skating in the first half of the game.
"Our guys fought to the end, they were pushing, there was no give-up, guys were doing all the right things. It's just that's a big team, and when you get behind early and you're chasing it the whole game, that's what we tried to avoid."
Sandin put Toronto up 2-1 at 8:14 of the first period when his shot from the left hash marks along the side boards deflected off Murphy's stick.
The Maple Leafs thought they added to the lead at 8:29, but video review determined Alex Kerfoot preceded the puck into the offensive zone prior to his goal.
Matthews made it 3-1 at 11:21 when he shot from just outside the left hash marks in the slot after taking a pass from Nylander, who got the puck by the left hash marks along the side boards and skated towards the blue line before sending pass from the top of the right face-off circle back across the ice.
"I think he's just all over it and just the consistency factor has been really great to see," Matthews said of Nylander. "He's just all over it every single game, he's moving his feet and it's just been a lot of fun to watch. It's a treat to play with him."

Kurashev cut it to 3-2 46 seconds into the second period when he one-timed a pass from Max Domi at the top of the left circle.
Tavares made it 4-2 at 7:37 when he one-timed a pass from Kerfoot, who beat Blackhawks defenseman Ian Mitchell to Mrazek's pass behind the net.
Conor Timmins, who had been a healthy scratch the previous four games, extended the lead to 5-2 at 16:07 when he one-timed a pass from Matthews just inside the blue line.
"That was pretty cool," Timmins said. "It was my first one at home and Matthews made a nice pass, and I was just lucky enough to get it through a screen. So, it was a cool feeling."
The Maple Leafs went up 1-0 nine seconds into the first period when Nylander took a stretch pass from Morgan Rielly, got around McCabe in the high slot and shot past Mrazek's outstretched left pad. It was Nylander's sixth goal in eight games.
Lafferty tied it 1-1 at 1:02 when he intercepted Calle Jarnkrok's pass in the slot and backhanded a shot blocker side.
"It's just a matter of calming the storm," Domi said. "I thought Lafferty did a great job of that with a beautiful goal, but then a combination of us sitting back a little too much and them executing at a pretty high level."
NOTES: Nylander's goal was the fourth-fastest to begin a game in Maple Leafs history behind Charlie Conacher (seven seconds, 1932), Mitchell Marner (seven seconds, 2019) and Ted Kennedy (eight seconds, 1953). … Marner had an assist to extend his point streak to seven games (two goals, seven assists). … Rielly extended his point streak to five games (two goals, three assists). ... Blackhawks forward Cole Guttman, who was recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, had one shot and one hit in 12:09 in his NHL debut. … The teams play again Sunday at Chicago.