Scott Laughton and Auston Matthews also scored, and Joseph Woll made 22 saves through two periods before leaving with a lower-body injury. Dennis Hildeby started in net for the third period and made nine saves in relief for the Maple Leafs (13-11-3), who have won three in a row.
Seth Jarvis scored for the Hurricanes (16-8-2), who had won two in a row. Frederik Andersen made 18 saves.
Toronto scored on its first shot of the game for a 1-0 lead at 53 seconds. McMann’s short snap shot from the slot hit the left post before bouncing off Andersen and trickling over the goal line.
The Maple Leafs took a 2-0 at 11:45. Philippe Myers’ dump-in from the red line came off the glass and into the slot, where Laughton tapped the puck over Andersen’s right pad.
Jarvis made it 2-1 at 15:45. Shayne Gostisbehere received a pass in the slot from Sebastian Aho, then wrapped a pass around Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly for a back-door tap-in.
Knies scored a highlight reel goal to extend the lead to 3-1 at 4:44 of the second period. Knies poked the puck away from Gostisbehere at Carolina’s offensive blue line, kept possession after Gostisbehere shoved him to the ice at Toronto’s offensive blue line, then fended off Aho near the right hash marks before flipping a backhand over Andersen’s glove.
Matthews pushed the Toronto lead to 4-1 at 10:39 when he finished a pass from Max Domi on a 2-on-1. Knies started the play when he intercepted a pass in Toronto’s defensive zone.
McMann scored an empty-net goal at 18:16 of the third period for the 5-1 final.
