Auston Matthews scores 200th NHL point to help Toronto close gap for second place.
By Heather Engel / NHL.com Correspondent
BUFFALO — The Toronto Maple Leafs moved closer to second place in the Atlantic Division with a 4-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Wednesday.
Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist to reach 200 NHL points for the Maple Leafs (44-25-5), who trail the idle Boston Bruins by four points. Garret Sparks made 22 saves.
Casey Mittelstadt and Alexander Nylander scored, and Carter Hutton made 42 saves for Buffalo (31-33-9), which hasn’t won consecutive games since Dec. 11 and 13.
The power play connected for the first time in seven games to give Buffalo a 1-0 lead, with Mittelstadt scoring from a sharp angle along the goal line at 15:04 of the first period.
Matthews tied it 1-1 at 1:43 of the second when Andreas Johnsson’s no-look backhand pass hit his skate and redirected into the net.
John Tavares took advantage of a favorable bounce to give Toronto a 2-1 lead. William Nylander’s shot hit the crossbar, bounced off Jack Eichel to the left of the net and back towards Tavares alone in front at 18:32.
Mitchell Marner extended it to 3-1 with a shot from the slot 22 seconds into the third period.
Alexander Nylander took a pass from Vladimir Sobotka in the high slot to cut it to 3-2 at 5:37.
Zach Hyman made it 4-2 with a backhand into the empty net at 19:27.
Up next
The Sabres travel Saturday north of the border to take on the Canadiens in Montreal at 7 pm.