Matthews scores twice in Maple Leafs loss to Canucks

TORONTO -- Auston Matthews scored his 38th and 39th goals of the season to take the NHL lead, but the Toronto Maple Leafs lost 6-4 to the Vancouver Canucks at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

Vancouver scored the final three goals, all in the third period, and won at Toronto for the first time in 13 games since Dec. 17, 2011 (0-11-1).
"This was one of the games you are going to remember," Canucks forward J.T. Miller said. "Every game feels like a do-or-die for us, which is good and bad. You don't want to be in this position but you have to embrace it because you know it has to bring the best out of you. I love it. Those games are awesome to play in, the emotion, the energy. That was just an awesome win."
Tanner Pearson tied it 4-4 at 1:03 when he deflected a shot from Tyler Myers in the slot. Alex Chiasson gave the Canucks a 5-4 lead at 6:55 when he got to a loose puck in the left face-off circle and shot past Jack Campbell's blocker, and Tyler Motte scored into an empty net with 20 seconds left for the 6-4 final.
"I thought we played a good game tonight," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "In comparison to our game the other night (a 5-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday), it was not even close. I thought our guys played hard today, I don't think we gave up very much, but we absolutely have to do a better job in our own end dealing with pucks coming to our net."

Brock Boeser, and Travis Hamonic each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks (28-23-6), who have won five of six. Thatcher Demko made 34 saves.
John Tavares ended a 14-game goal drought and had an assist, and Wayne Simmonds played his 1,000th NHL game for the Maple Leafs (35-16-4), who lost their second straight.
Campbell made 23 saves. He has allowed 19 goals in his past four games (three starts, 0-2-1).
"I'm not happy with giving up any goals ever, so it's not acceptable, but I'm trying to let it roll off a little easier now," Campbell said. "I know I've got better for the team. It's disappointing not getting the win when we played so well."
Vancouver begins a seven-game homestand Wednesday against the Montreal Canadiens.
"What [this win] does is give us that much more belief," Miller said. "We've got a good thing going right now, and we're excited to get a little rest here and start this homestand off and make it hard to play against us these next seven.
"We should fully believe that we can get into the playoffs because that's what we want to play for, and all these home games coming up will be a good opportunity for us."

The Canucks went up 2-1 at 19:30 of the first period when Hamonic's shot from the top of the right face-off circle deflected off Maple Leafs defenseman T.J. Brodie's skate in the slot.
Boeser made it 3-1 at 4:12 of the second period on the power play when he swatted a rebound out of the air.
Nicholas Robertson cut it to 3-2 at 5:33 on a 2-on-1 with William Nylander. It was his first NHL regular-season goal in his 10th game.
Matthews tied it 3-3 at 8:52 when he one-timed a clearing attempt by from Boeser from the left circle. He gave Toronto a 4-3 lead at 12:06 when his slap shot from the blue line deflected off Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes at the top of the crease.
"I think they're starting to believe in themselves, and when you have belief anything can happen," Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We played so bad in the second period and our thought was we were only down one. So all we had to do was win one period and we would at least have one point. I thought we played a great third period, and Demko in the last five minutes was incredible."

Demko preserved the lead with a right-pad save on Matthews at 16:49 of the third and a right-pad save on Mitchell Marner at the top of the crease at 18:44 with Campbell pulled for an extra attacker.
Miller put the Canucks up 1-0 at 7:48 of the first period when he got to a rebound from Hamonic's point shot.
Tavares tied it 1-1 on the power play at 9:49 when he took a drop pass from Marner and scored from the slot. The goal was his first since Jan. 29.
"He looked relieved, the bench was real happy for him," Keefe said. "I was happy he held on to that one and shot it in himself. It was great initiative by him. That's the kind of spot you can get in and start to overthink it, but he didn't."
NOTES: Simmonds became the third player from the 2007 NHL Draft to play 1,000 games, following Patrick Kane and Jakub Voracek. Simmonds, selected in the second round (No. 31) by the Los Angeles Kings, has scored 521 points (262 goals, 259 assists). The forward had four hits in 7:30 of ice time. ... Matthews passed Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers for the goals lead. Draisaitl (38) did not score in a 5-2 loss to the Canadiens on Saturday. ... Miller extended his point streak to nine games (17 points; six goals, 11 assists).