TORONTO — Auston Matthews had two assists and William Nylander had a goal and an assist as the Maple Leafs topped the Devils 4-2 on Thursday night for their seventh win in nine games.
Nylander set a franchise rookie mark by extending his points streak to 10 games, while equaling another team record for power-play points with 25. Mitch Marner also matched a club rookie record for assists with his 40th, setting up James van Riemsdyk’s 23rd of the season.
“I think you have to learn how to win these games over and over again,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “You just expect it. It doesn’t matter if it’s back-to-back. It doesn’t matter where you played. It doesn’t matter who you play. You expect to win.”
Josh Leivo and Connor Brown also scored for the Leafs, who are 7-1-1 in their last nine. Curtis McElhinney made 30 saves to earn the win. Toronto (85 points) increased its lead over Boston (82) to three points for the third spot in the Atlantic Division.
John Moore scored both goals for the Devils. Keith Kinkaid allowed three goals on 29 shots.
“I thought we were just OK in the first 40 and we picked it up in the third and that’s how we need to play,” Moore said. “We were in their end quite a bit and forced them to make hard plays to get out of the zone and kept them pinned a little bit and created scoring chances.”