Mitch Marner and new lines click as Maple Leafs hold off Habs

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Spreadsheet accounting put the Maple Leafs in the black on Saturday night.

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With a goal from three restructured lines featuring at least one Core Four forward, Toronto struck early in the second period in filing a 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

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Right winger Mitch Marner, after a dozen games away with an ankle injury, assisted on Bobby McMann’s goal, but by then his regular centre Auston Matthews had bagged his league-leading 64th with new linemates Max Domi and Tyler Bertuzzi, while William Nylander was party to a Matthew Knies goal. John Tavares centred Marner and McMann, but given the Matthews-Marner magic of the past, it can only be called an experiment right now with the final playoff picture to be settled.

Nylander got extra work at right wing after fourth liner Ryan Reaves had to leave for a long stint with an apparent hand injury while getting the better of Michael Pezzetta in a second-period scrap.

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In possibly their last game against a team that is eliminated from playoff contention, and coming off a couple of intense foes in the Bolts and Panthers, the Leafs were sluggish to start. They lost 11 of 15 draws, had passes picked off and lacked finish around goalie Samuel Montembeault.

But head coach Sheldon Keefe, who is known to swap horses in games that aren’t producing results, didn’t alter his offensive plans and it paid off with two goals in 17 seconds by Domi and Matthews and two more less than six minutes into the middle period. Matthews reached around the net and a Canadiens defenceman for a perfect sweep shot that banked in off another Habs defender.

Montembeault was replaced after the fourth goal by Cayden Primeau and the Habs rallied on a power-play goal by Nick Suzuki and another late in the second period 5-on-5 by Cole Caufield. Ilya Samsonov locked it down from there, making 24  saves as Toronto completed a three-game sweep of the season’s series.

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After getting just one shot in the first period, Matthews’s goal put him at 100 points for the second time in his career, with Darryl Sittler and Doug Gilmour the only other Leafs to reach that multiple, and one behind Jeremy Roenick’s record of three 100-pointers by an American-born NHLer. Matthews, who also hit the post in the third, has a 10-game points streak of nine goals and nine assists.

The Leafs now prep for the Pittsburgh Penguins at home on Monday, a game taking on new meaning with former general manager Kyle Dubas’s team getting late-season life for a playoff spot.

GAME ON

Reaves was incensed that Pezzetta popped David Kampf from behind and shook up the fourth line centre. Both benches jawed before Reaves got out against Pezzetta, who tried to get the jump on the more seasoned Toronto enforcer … The sideshow of an Arber Xhekaj fight with Reaves was cancelled with the former’s upper-body injury sidelining him. The Canadiens’ blueline was also missing a banged-up Kaiden Guhle after a heavy hit by Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov on Thursday. Guhle missed four games earlier this season with a concussion … Changes on Toronto’s defence saw Mark Giordano and TJ Brodie re-united from their Calgary Flames days … It was defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin’s 30th birthday and he assisted on Domi’s goal with a nice point shot. It was a play that began with Matthews confusing the Habs by not touching a puck that came back up top to Lyubushkin … Defenceman Simon Benoit’s first game in his hometown as a Leaf came after Keefe made the hard decision to scratch him March 9 to accommodate trade deadline changes. There were lots of family and friends to secure tickets for and he was in the starting lineup. It was good for the francophone media, who’ve been without a regular Leaf to interview since Frederik Gauthier. ‘The Goat’ is now playing in Switzerland … Benoit and Pontus Holmberg got caught chasing the same man around the net on the Caufield goal … Matthews and Marner did end up together during 4-on-4 play and on Toronto’s only power play in the third period … Nylander’s 309th assist passed Ron Ellis for 13th in franchise history … It was NHL coaching win No. 210 for Keefe, passing Larry Robinson for sole possession of 80th in league annals.

lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

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