Former Canucks forwards Zack MacEwen and Teddy Blueger also scored for the Maple Leafs (8-6-2), who were coming off consecutive road losses. Anthony Stolarz made 26 saves.
Brock Boeser and Max Sasson scored, and Leevi Merilainen made 24 saves for the Canucks (3-12-1), who are 1-11-1 in their past 13 games.
Nylander put Toronto ahead 1-0 on a breakaway at 1:23 of the first period after defenseman Jamie Oleksiak got caught flat-footed after reaching to break up a Toronto breakout pass. Nylander cut across the crease on his forehand before chipping a backhand back up over Merilainen’s glove the other way.
Boeser tied it 1-1 on a power play breakaway at 10:30, taking a perfect pass from Filip Hronek inside his own zone and skating in alone from the Toronto blue line before getting Stolarz to commit on a fake shot and pulling the puck around the sprawled goalie before lifting it into the open net.
The Maple Leafs had a great chance to retake the lead on consecutive power plays that included 1:08 of 5-on-3, but Merilainen robbed Gavin McKennna on a backdoor chance early in the first power play and made saves off hard Matthews and Darren Raddyish shots to kill the two-man advantage.
Matthews put Toronto ahead 2-1 at 3:47 of the second period on a pretty passing play with Raddyish. Matthews passed from the bottom of the left face-off circle up to Raddyish, who had his stick raised for a one-timer just above the dot, but instead passed back down to Matthews for a sweeping one-touch shot along the ice and under the pads of Merilainen.
MacEwen made it 3-1 at 12:34, when his point shot bounced out of Merilainen’s glove, off the back of defenseman Luke Schenn and trickled in.
Sasson pulled the Canucks to 3-2 at 9:27 by chipping a rebound over the right pad of Stolarz in tight after a Brendan Gallagher shot through traffic.
Blueger, who also had an assist, scored into an empty net on a 2-on-1 pass from Nylander at 18:24 for the 4-2 final.
