Auston Matthews scored his league-leading 64th goal and the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 Saturday night.
Max Domi, Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann also scored for the Maple Leafs. Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves.
Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens. Cole Caufield added a goal and Mike Matheson contributed two assists. Sam Montembeault allowed four goals on 12 shots before being replaced in the second period by Cayden Primeau, who made 18 saves.
The Canadiens (29-35-12, 70 points) were eliminated from playoff contention with a 7-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
The Maple Leafs (44-23-9, 97 points) clinched a playoff by the results of Friday night despite being idle.
The Maple Leafs won all three games between the teams this season.
Suzuki fired a wrist shot that rang off the goal post at 13:29 of the first period. Suzuki’s line spent considerable time buzzing around in the Toronto zone for long stretches of the first. McMann’s wrist shot off a rebound hit a post at 18:25 of the first.
The Maple Leafs caught the Canadiens on a long shift to open the scoring at 2:21 of the second period. After a turnover, Domi deflected a shot by Ilya Lyubushkin for his ninth goal of the season.
Matthews scored 17 seconds later when his shot from the side of the net deflected off a Montreal defenseman.
Knies scored his 14th goal from in front of the goal at 7:20 of the second.
Mitchell Marner, returning after missing 12 games with an ankle injury, set up McMann for his 15th goal 34 seconds later.
Suzuki snapped home his 33rd goal during a power play at 9:05 of the second. Tyler Bertuzzi was off for high-sticking.
Caufield scored his 23rd at 8:32 of the second with a 10-foot snap shot.
Montreal removed the goaltender for an extra attacker with two minutes to play.
–Field Level Media
