McElhinney makes 39 saves in Maple Leafs win against Stars

DALLAS -- Curtis McElhinney made 39 saves in his first game since Dec. 20, and Nazem Kadri scored two goals for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 4-1 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Thursday.

"It feels good. Obviously, it's been a long layover," McElhinney said. "It's just the way the schedule's worked out. The last couple games for me were tough personally, so this was a nice way to bounce back tonight."
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Zach Hyman and Auston Matthews scored, and defenseman Jake Gardiner had three assists for the Maple Leafs (28-18-5), who were coming off a 3-2 overtime win at the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday.
"We skated real good tonight, maybe as good as we've skated all year," Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. "All four lines were good. It was a big win for our team. Anytime you win back-to-back, especially with the way Dallas has been playing -- Dallas has been playing real good. [Stars coach Ken Hitchcock] does a good job and you knew it was going to be a tight game."
Tyler Seguin scored, and Ben Bishop made 25 saves for the Stars (28-18-4), who had their five-game point streak (4-0-1) end.

"We had no excuse," Dallas captain Jamie Benn said. "We had the day off yesterday, they played a back-to-back, and there is no excuse and that's why it's disappointing."
Kadri scored to put Toronto ahead 1-0 at 15:50 of the first period. A turnover by Stars forward Mattias Janmark at the Maple Leafs blue line created the chance, and Kadri scored off a pass from Mitchell Marner.
"I knew it was coming the whole way. That's [Marner's] tendency," Kadri said. "He's a passer, but he can also score. He's always got the puck in ready-to-shoot position, but chances are he's going to be looking for you. Playing with him, the only adjustment I've made is just try to have that shooter mentality and get open, and he's going to hit you."
Hyman scored on the rebound of a William Nylander shot at 1:55 of the second period to make it 2-0.
With the Maple Leafs on the power play, Kadri made it 3-0 at 9:29 of the second when his centering pass deflected in off Janmark's stick.

"It was a terrible game by us, so of course it's bad," Janmark said. "It's not good going into the (All-Star) break. Just a terrible game."
Seguin cut the Maple Leafs lead to 3-1 at 17:43 of the second period when he scored off a pass from Alexander Radulov.
Matthews made it 4-1 when he scored on a 2-on-1 with Nylander at 2:38 of the third period.

Goal of the game

Kadri's goal at 15:50 of the first period.

Save of the game

McElhinney stopping Devin Shore at 15:21 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Matthews' goal at 2:38 of the third period.

They said it

"I think we just limited their chances. When you get those guys inside scoring areas, they're going to put the puck in the back of the net. They did that in one instance, and then the rest of the night I thought we did a good job defensively, and then there were a couple of key saves along the way too. They're scary guys to play against, but we did a great job overall." -- Maple Leafs goalie Curtis McElhinney
"It's disappointing to finish that way. We know we're going into [the All-Star] break and we wanted to end it on a good note. We played some good hockey of late, but all that does is set up us up for a fight down the stretch. We have to collect ourselves, take some rest over these days, and come back to some really important hockey." -- Stars forward Jason Spezza

Need to know

Gardiner has nine assists during a five-game point streak. ... Radulov has six goals and 10 assists during a nine-game point streak.

What's next

Maple Leafs: Host the New York Islanders on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SN, TVA Sports, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Stars: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, FS-W, NHL.TV)