Matthews scores Nos. 67, 68 in Maple Leafs loss to Devils

TORONTO – Auston Matthews scored his 67th and 68th goal of the season, but Jesper Bratt broke a tie with 1:14 left in the third period for the New Jersey Devils in a 6-5 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

Bratt cut across the right face-off circle and beat Ilya Samsonov with a wrist shot for his second goal of the game.

“We really showed how strong of a team effort we can put in and come back in these really hard, emotional games,” Bratt said. “The game was a fast-paced game, a lot of things happening, a lot of teams coming back and there’s sometimes emotional roller coasters playing teams like this, and we stuck with it and came up with a huge win that we as a team should feel pretty good about.”

Timo Meier had two goals and an assist, and Jake Allen made 27 saves for the Devils (38-37-5), who have been eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention.

“At this point of the year, you really want your team to show its identity, and we’ve talked about that since Day One,” New Jersey coach Travis Green said. “A lot of resiliency in our game tonight. They scored early, that’s a very offensive team over there, and for us to answer back right away was important. It’s a great building to win in.”

Matthews extended his goal streak to seven games, John Tavares scored twice, and Max Domi had two assists for the Maple Leafs (46-24-9), who are 6-2-0 in their past eight games. Samsonov made 14 saves.

“It was a loose game, strange game,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We scored first shift, first shot and we give them a couple gifts after that. Strange game here tonight, obviously not one that you love but we’ll move on.”

Tavares gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead 18 seconds into the first period. He took a pass from Mitch Marner in the slot, cut around Luke Hughes in the left circle and beat Allen with a wrist shot as he fell to his knees.

Erik Haula tied it 1-1 just 21 seconds later when picked up a loose puck in the slot and shot past Samsonov’s left pad. 

Matthews put Toronto up 2-1 at 6:08, taking a centering pass from Domi and shooting past Allen from the right circle. 

Nolan Foote tied it 2-2 at 7:57 with his first goal of the season. He intercepted a pass at the right face-off dot from Mark Giordano, who was behind the net, and deked to the backhand around Samsonov’s outstretched left pad.

Meier made it 3-2 at 12:37 when he one-timed a pass from Bratt at the right face-off dot on the power play. 

Matthews tied it 3-3 at 7:59 of the second period when he redirected a centering pass from Domi at the top of the crease. He has nine goals in the past seven games and 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists) during a 13-game point streak. 

“It’s remarkable what he’s doing,” Tavares said. “I think there’s no question about it, we are seeing something truly special, so just appreciate it every night and as a team, we want to do a good job with our game as a whole to maximize when you have a player like that who can put the puck in the net as frequently as he can.”

David Kampf put the Maple Leafs ahead 4-3 at 9:16 when he took a pass from Connor Dewar at the left post and slid a shot through Allen’s pads.

Meier tied it 4-4 with a power-play goal at 19:48. He one-timed a shot from the high slot off a face-off win by Nico Hischier.

“That was a fun game to play,” Meier said. “It wasn’t perfect, but effort-wise, I thought we did a great job.”

Bratt gave the Devils a 5-4 lead at 11:03 of the third period with a one-timer from the top of the right circle off a pass from Hughes on the power play.

“I thought it was a little sloppy at times, it just didn’t seem like we were as dialed in as we should have been tonight, and obviously playing a team with a lot of speed, a lot of skill, when you are careless with the puck they can make you pay,” Matthews said.

Tavares tied it 5-5 at 15:13. Morgan Rielly carried the puck into the offensive zone and passed from the goal line to Tavares, who shot over Allen’s glove from the top of the crease.

NOTES: Matthews’ first goal was the 366th of his NHL career, passing Dave Keon for the third-most in Maple Leafs history. He trails Mats Sundin by 53 and Darryl Sitter by 22. ... Maple Leafs forward William Nylander played his 600th NHL game. He has 526 points (217 goals and 309 assists). ... Maple Leafs defenseman Joel Edmundson was minus-1 in 19:22 in his return after missing eight games after blocking a shot in a 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on March 24.