Tavares, Maple Leafs defeat Golden Knights in OT for Babcock's 700th win

TORONTO -- John Tavares scored 2:33 into overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 2-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

Tavares took a pass from Mitchell Marner and one-timed a shot past Malcolm Subban from the bottom of the right face-off circle.
"We've been in a lot of these types of games this year, and it hasn't always been as fluid and pretty as it can be with our skill and depth," Tavares said, "but we have to continue to build our game and chip away, and I think we're starting to see some really good signs and getting results."
WATCH: [All Golden Knights vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock became the eighth coach in NHL history to reach 700 wins.
Auston Matthews scored, and Frederik Andersen made 37 saves for Toronto (9-5-3), which has won three in a row for the first time this season.
"He's been playing and getting better just like each year," Babcock said of Andersen. "He kind of gets through October each year and then seems to kick it into gear and gets feeling good. He's an important player for us and a leader for us. We need him to make big saves like he's been doing."

Max Pacioretty scored, and Subban made 35 saves for the Golden Knights (9-5-3), who extended their point streak to five games (2-0-3).
"Subban is a huge reason why we got one point, he made some unbelievable saves," Pacioretty said. "We've had points in a few straight here, but that said, we need to clean up our overtime. It feels like we're not even getting chances really or even possession of the puck. We have to figure that out."
The Golden Knights have lost all three of their games decided in overtime this season.
Pacioretty made it 1-0 at 4:08 of the third period when he intercepted Cody Ceci's clearing attempt at the side of the net and put it past a sprawling Andersen.

Matthews tied it 1-1 at 8:14 on Toronto's sixth power play of the game when he shot over Subban's glove from the right face-off dot.
"As we went along the first two periods on the power play we were a bit stagnant," Matthews said, "so in the third we pretty much said 'What do we have to lose? Let's move around and get the penalty kill thinking more.' It was different guys going to different guys and reacting off our instincts, not just drawing up plays but reacting off one another. It kind of spread them out a bit, and we were able to score."
Pacioretty credited Andersen as a major reason the Golden Knights came up short.
"He made some big saves, he's one of the best in the League for reason," Pacioretty said. "The timeliness of the saves he made and knowing what the situation is in the game [was big]. We have to do a better job taking away his eyes, but you can't take away credit from him that he's a very strong goaltender."

They said it

"I thought I had a good game, but it's tough when you get outplayed by the other goaltender. [Andersen's] a great goaltender; he played really good and showed up tonight, it was a great game by him. He made some nice saves there and I wish I could have made maybe one of those saves on the ones I let in." -- Golden Knights goalie Malcolm Subban
"The Halloween party helped a little bit, getting to know each other a little bit outside the rink. We have a lot of road games coming up, so hopefully we can just continue building on that and continue jelling together as a group." -- Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen on Toronto starting to come together

Need to know

Matthews is the fifth player in Maple Leafs history to score 12 goals or more through their first 11 home games in a season. He joined Babe Dye (18 in 1920-21; 17 in 1922-23; 16 in 1921-22; 15 in 1924-25), Charlie Conacher (14 in 1933-34), Wendel Clark (12 in 1993-94) and Gaye Stewart (12 in 1942-43). … Babcock passed Jacques Martin for 12th on the games-coached list (1,295). … Vegas was 0-for-5 on the power play.

What's next

Golden Knights: At the Washington Capitals on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSWA, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, SNO, SNW, SNP, NBCSP, NHL.TV)