Matthews scores twice in Maple Leafs win against Senators

TORONTO -- Auston Matthews had two goals and two assists to extend his personal point streak to 15 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 7-3 win against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

Matthews has 24 points (16 goals, eight assists) during that span and his active 12-game point streak is the longest in the NHL this season.
"I'm just trying to shoot at what's open to be honest," the forward said. "The puck is going in the net right now, which is great, but the most important thing is we're winning hockey games."
Mitchell Marner had a goal and three assists, Joe Thornton had a goal and two assists, and Michael Hutchinson made 34 saves in his season debut for the Maple Leafs (13-3-2), who have a point in 12 of their past 13 games (10-1-2).

Tim Stutzle had a goal and an assist for the Senators (4-14-1), who lost 2-1 here Wednesday and went 1-2-0 in the three-game set.
"We had legs, we were flying in the first period," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. "I just think they got a couple early and I think we got away from the way we have to play. We got sloppy. We gave them too much room to play. The positive was in the third period we got back to playing the way we do."
Matt Murray allowed six goals on 26 shots in relief of Marcus Hogberg, who left 12 minutes into the first period with a lower-body injury after allowing one goal on five shots.
"This one's on me," Murray said. "If I just do a better job coming in and keeping the team in, if I do a better job, who knows what happens."

Matthews gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at 10:29 of the first period with a power-play goal, and Thornton redirected a point shot from Jake Muzzin in the slot at 16:43 to make it 2-0.
Thornton has six points (two goals, four assists) in three games since returning after missing 10 games with a fractured rib.
"I've felt fine," he said. "It's good for me to get a bunch of games in a row like this to get my timing back. I like rolling every other night and playing lots of games, so I think [the workload] is going to help me."
Stutzle made it 2-1 at 17:51 when he scored short side on Hutchinson from the bottom of the left circle. Matthews tucked in his second at the right post at 19:37 to make it 3-1.
"He's picking goalies apart; they don't really stand a chance," Maple Leafs forward William Nylander said. "He's doing it consistently too, which is unbelievable. With his shot and where he scores from, it's the best I've seen."

Ilya Mikheyev pushed the lead to 4-1 at 1:39 of the second period.
Marner put Toronto ahead 5-1 at 3:45 when he got around Mike Reilly and shot over Murray's left shoulder from below the right circle.
Connor Brown scored to make it 5-2 at 7:37, and Nylander responded at 11:00 on the power play to make it 6-2.
"It had been a lot of games without a point (six), so obviously it gets to you a little bit, so it was nice to get a goal and assist today for that reason," Nylander said.
Toronto outshot Ottawa 14-9 in the second period.
"I thought we came out and had a much better first period than our last outing on Wednesday, but I think our second period was our best period by far," Matthews said. "I thought we really controlled the play and didn't give them too much space. We kept coming wave after wave, all four lines and three pairs of defense."
Drake Batherson banked a shot off Maple Leafs defenseman Mikko Lehtonen's skate at 11:11 of the third period to cut it to 6-3. John Tavares made it 7-3 at 16:53 with his first goal in seven games.
NOTES: Matthews did not play in a 4-2 win at the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 22 and has 20 points (14 goals, six assists) in the 12 games since. ... Thornton is the oldest player (41 years, 231 days) in Maple Leafs history to score at least three points in a regular-season game. ... Toronto played without forward Zach Hyman, who is day to day after he was injured Wednesday. … Ottawa was without defenseman Thomas Chabot, who was a late scratch and is day to day with an undisclosed injury.