Kadri's late goal helps Maple Leafs top Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Nazem Kadri scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:20 left in the third period for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 5-3 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

Kadri's shot from a sharp angle deflected off Wild defenseman Nick Seeler to make it 4-3.
Zach Hyman had two goals, Auston Matthews scored, and Frederik Andersen made 38 saves for Toronto (19-8-0), which has won four straight and eight of its past 10 games. Mitch Marner had two assists to tie Mikko Rantanen of the Colorado Avalanche for the NHL lead with 32.
WATCH: [All Maple Leafs vs. Wild highlights]
"We've got a lot of faith in each other," Marner said. "We've got four lines deep. … I think when we're playing at our best is when we're getting the puck in, we're chasing teams and we're playing good hockey down low. That's something we need to do a lot more of."
Eric Staal, Jordan Greenway and Jason Zucker scored, and Devan Dubnyk made 18 saves for Minnesota (14-10-2), which has lost three straight and five of its past seven.
Matthews gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 6:06 of the first period on the power play, scoring off a cross-ice pass from Marner in the left face-off circle. Matthews has four points (three goals, one assist) in his past two games after missing the previous 14 with a shoulder injury.

"I think I've been able to get engaged in the game early," Matthews said. "I'm still not feeling completely like myself, but it's just two games in so I'm going to continue to play, get my legs back under me, get my wind back, continue to play better and better."
Tyler Ennis extended the lead to 2-0 at 12:19 when his cross-crease pass deflected in off Seeler's leg.
Staal cut it to 2-1 at 19:29 with a one-timer short side from the left circle.
"We competed hard, but we have to do that every night and we know that," Staal said. "[We] just didn't get the result that we hoped for. That can happen sometimes. This is the NHL. There are some great teams that's got some talent. [I] felt like we deserved better."

Greenway scored on a 2-on-1 with Joel Eriksson Ek to tie it 2-2 at 5:17 of the second period.
Hyman gave Toronto a 3-2 lead at 14:38 when he deflected Marner's point shot past Dubnyk.
Zucker tied it 3-3 at 9:38 of the third period. After Mikael Granlund whiffed on a shot in the right circle, Zucker got the rebound and scored short side on Andersen.
Hyman scored an empty-net goal at 19:04 to make it 5-3.
"I think it was as good of a game we could play," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We didn't get the puck luck. I think Toronto got it. A great team, but I think the wrong team deserved to win today."

They said it

"We're going to end up as a team with lots of depth. We're going to end up becoming a real good hockey club. I didn't think we had our A-game at all in the second half of the game. We found a way to win. That's the sign of a good team." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babacock
"I thought we played well, but it doesn't matter if you don't win. We've got to find a way to win those games. It seems everybody else is winning, too. To keep pace in [the Central Division] you've got to win too." -- Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon

Need to know

Maple Leafs forward William Nylander, who was a restricted free agent,
agreed to terms
on a six-year contract ($6.9 million average annual value) on Saturday. He would not have been eligible to play in the NHL this season if he did not sign before the Dec. 1 deadline of 5 p.m. ET. … Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly had an assist on Matthews' goal for his 200th NHL point. … Toronto has scored at least four goals in each of its past four games. … Minnesota has lost three straight for the first time this season and has allowed at least four goals in four of its past five games. … Marner has 10 assists during a four-game, multipoint streak, and has 19 points (one goal, 18 assists) in his past 11 games.

What's Next

Maple Leafs: At the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN4, NHL.TV)
Wild: At the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV)