Matthews scores twice, Maple Leafs hand Predators 1st regulation loss

TORONTO -- Auston Matthews scored twice for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 7-4 win against the Nashville Predators at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson, John Tavares and William Nylander each had a goal and two assists, and Matthew Knies had three assists for the Maple Leafs (2-2-0), who lost consecutive games to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday and Monday.

“I thought we battled for a full 60 minutes and were able to get a win,” Nylander said. “A lot of good efforts.”

Cayden Primeau made 26 saves in his Toronto debut. It was his first NHL game since Dec. 12, 2024, when he was with the Montreal Canadiens. He was claimed off waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 6.

“That one felt good for sure,” Primeau said. “Just being able to get out with two points feels good. I was nervous not being able to play a preseason game and not having played a game with the group, so a little bit nervous trying to figure out how things were going to go.”

Michael McCarron, Erik Haula, Roman Josi and Nick Perbix scored, and Justus Annunen made 21 saves in his season debut for the Predators (2-1-1), who defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Monday.

“Did a lot of good things,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “I’m proud of the group and didn’t quit, didn’t deviate from how we are supposed to play. Kept going at them, but we had some bad bounces there, so all in all, happy with the group, happy with the game even though it didn’t go our way. Things to work on, things to learn, but we will move on.”

Tavares put Toronto up 3-2 at 8:49 of the second period when he jammed in the rebound of Nylander's shot at the top of the crease.

“Very [pleased],” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “’Willy’ drove the line with Johnny and [Matias] Maccelli, all three of them, but Willy did what he does. He had the puck, he was doing things, making good decisions, driving it deep and doing what he does in the offensive zone, but I thought they were responsible defensively. I was happy with the line. They were very impactful tonight.”

Bobby McMann, who hit the goal post on a breakaway earlier in the second, made it 4-2 at 16:24 when his shot from the bottom of the right face-off circle went off Brady Skjei’s stick and between Annunen’s left pad and the post.

Matthews stretched it to 5-2 at 10:42 of the third period. He took a pass on a give-and-go with Knies and scored from below the right hash marks past Annunen’s outstretched left pad. Easton Cowan had a secondary assist for his first NHL point.

Josi cut it to 5-3 at 16:06 with a shot from the blue line that beat a screened Primeau.

Matthews shot into an empty net at 16:50 to make it 6-3 before Perbix cut it to 6-4 at 18:49.

Nylander added another empty-net goal at 19:36 for the 7-4 final.

“A couple weird bounces for them tonight, but in saying that, we maybe shot ourselves in the foot a little bit,” McCarron said. “We gave up too many chances against, but at the same time, we scored four goals and had a good penalty kill (2-for-2). You’re going to run into some good teams here. I thought we played well for the most part, stuck to our game plan. I thought we played a solid game. A couple breakdowns that obviously you would want back, but it is still early in the year. We’re learning and we can take a lot from this game positively.”

The Maple Leafs went ahead 1-0 at 8:42 of the first period when McCabe’s shot from the blue line deflected off Haula’s hip at the top of the left face-off circle.

Ekman-Larsson made it 2-0 at 13:34. He took a pass just inside the blue line from Nylander and had his shot from the top of the right circle inadvertently redirected by Ozzy Wiesblatt at the top of the crease.

“I thought we moved the puck really well in the first period, and then obviously they came back in the second,” Ekman-Larsson said. “But I thought we bounced back, and that’s kudos to us to come back and find a way to get one goal ahead again and then 4-2. So, it gave us some confidence back and I thought we controlled the game pretty good there in the third.”

McCarron cut it to 2-1 at 3:21 of the second period when he jammed in a loose puck that trickled behind Primeau.

Haula tied it 2-2 at 4:05. Wiesblatt stole the puck from Chris Tanev behind the net and passed out to Haula, who scored from the bottom of the right circle.

The goal resulted in Berube calling a timeout.

“Obviously, when a team is down, they come out and are a little more intense and I called the timeout,” Berube said. “Just our intensity level wasn’t where it needed to be, but the guys responded, so it was good. But overall, it was a pretty good game, a lot of good things.”

NOTES: Matthews has 64 game-winning goals, passing Dave Keon for second in Maple Leafs history. Mats Sundin is first with 79. … The Predators were 0-for-2 on the power play and are 1-for-17 on the season.