TORONTO (AP) — Pierre Engvall scored with 2:27 left in regulation, Mitch Marner had a goal to stretch his point streak to a franchise record-tying 18 games, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the San Jose Sharks 3-1 on Wednesday night.
Auston Matthews also scored for Toronto, and Ilya Samsonov had 23 saves. The Maple Leafs improved to 8-0-2 over their last 10 games and 11-1-4 over the last 16.
Marner tied Darryl Sittler (1978-79) and Eddie Olcyzk (1989-90) for team mark. The 25-year-old is the 23rd player in NHL history with a point streak of at least 18 games. He has seven goals and 17 assists during the streak.
Matt Nieto scored for San Jose and Aaron Dell stopped 29 shots.
Engvall fired home his third goal of the season off a rebound after the Sharks turned the puck over in the neutral zone to give the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead.
Marner then had two chances at the empty net before finally burying his eighth with 1:11 left in the third for his record-tying point that was saluted by the crowd at Scotiabank Arena.
Toronto went to its third power play of the night with just over five minutes left in the third period, but Dell made a couple of big saves on a scramble early in the man-advantage before Engvall won it.
The Maple Leafs have largely been fine without their injured top-3 defensemen — Morgan Rielly (knee), T.J. Brodie (oblique) and Jake Muzzin (neck) — but were lucky to get out of the first period unscathed despite giving up three breakaways and two dangerous odd-man rushes.
Toronto took a 1-0 lead at 4:19 of the second when rookie defenseman Mac Hollowell found Matthews with a slick slap pass for him to redirect his 12th.
San Jose responded at 7:26 when Logan Couture shook Hollowell's check behind the net and fed Nieto in front for his sixth against Samsonov, who returned to the lineup after missing the last 12 games with a sore knee.
Toronto had a pair of power plays later in the period, but couldn’t find the range against Dell, who made his first appearance of the season with James Reimer (undisclosed) out injured and Kaapo Kahkonen getting the night off following the Sharks’ 4-0 victory in Montreal on Tuesday.
REMEMBERING BORJE
The Maple Leafs held a 21-second moment of silence for franchise icon Borje Salming, who was living with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, and died last week at 71.
All proceeds of the team’s reverse retro jerseys sold Wednesday will go to ALS Action Canada.
The sweaters worn by Toronto players against San Jose are set to be auctioned off in Salming’s memory for the charity.
The Hall of Fame defenseman, who wore No. 21 throughout his sparkling career, was at Scotiabank Arena earlier this month as part of two emotional on-ice tributes.
JARNKROK OUT
Toronto forward Calle Jarnkrok suffered a groin injury in the second period and did not return.
UP NEXT
Sharks: At Ottawa on Saturday night for the third of a four-game trip.
Maple Leafs: At Tampa Bay on Saturday night to open a two-game trip.
___
AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://www.twitter.com/AP_Sports
