Maple Leafs trail kings, take third win in a row

TORONTO – Auston Matthews scored his first goal of the season and added two assists as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Los Angeles Kings 6-2 on Wednesday night.

Bobby McMann had two goals of his own, while William Nylander, also with a goal and an assist, Morgan Rielly and John Tavares provided the rest of the offense for Toronto (3-1-0). Mitch Marner had three assists.

Anthony Stolarz made 32 saves for the Leafs, who have won three in a row.

Alex Turcotte and Kevin Fiala responded for Los Angeles (1-1-2). David Rittich allowed four goals on 14 shots before being replaced by Pheonix Copley in the second period. He finished with 10 stops.

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Without a point in three games in the 2024-25 season entering Wednesday, Matthews led the NHL in goals last season with 69 — the most in a season in more than three decades.

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The Kings are on a seven-game road trip to open the schedule due to renovations at Crypto.com Arena.

Takeaways

The Leafs snapped an 0-for-11 run to start the season on the power play when Nylander beat Copley to make it 5-0 late in the second.

The Kings’ defensive woes continued after an 8-7 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Monday.

Key moment

Matthews fanned on his first shot before telegraphing the puck past a helpless Rittich, who was on a short Leafs stint in 2021, to put Toronto up 2-0 midway through the first.

Key stat

Matthews became the fourth player in Leafs history to score 200 goals on home ice, joining Darryl Sittler (231), Dave Keon (225) and Mats Sundin (217). He also became the 11th active NHL player to score 200 home goals, reaching the milestone in 279 games. Alex Ovechkin is next on the list, accomplishing the feat in 321 games, according to NHL stats.

Next

The Kings continue their seven-game road trip in Montreal on Thursday. Toronto hosts the New York Rangers on Saturday in the third of four straight games at Scotiabank Arena.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

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