TORONTO (AP) — Auston Matthews scored twice and Jack Campbell made 26 saves, leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-0 win over the short-handed Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.
The Maple Leafs won their third straight.
Mitch Marner had a goal and assists on both Matthews’ goals. William Nylander added a goal and an assist.
Marner scored in the first period for a second straight game. Matthews notched a power-play goal early in the second and scored again in the final minute of the second period.
Campbell stopped 12 shots in the third and earned his first shutout since stopping the Calgary Flames 2-0 on March 20, 2021.
Campbell’s shutout also came on a day of media reports speculating on a contract extension for the goaltender. He wouldn’t confirm negotiations had begun, but said he wanted to stay in Toronto.
“I truly love it here,” Campbell said. “It’s a special group and special city. There is nothing more I would love to stay here.”
The Maple Leafs outshot the Golden Knights 34-26.
Vegas was without several top players because of injuries, including captain Mark Stone (lower body), Max Pacioretty (broken left foot), William Karlsson (broken foot), Alex Tuch (shoulder), Zach Whitecloud (lower body) and Nolan Patrick (undisclosed).
It took Vegas almost half of the first period to get a shot on Campbell.
Marner scored Toronto’s first goal at 11:31 of the opening period with a nifty move on Vegas forward Jake Leschyshyn in front of the Golden Knights' goal, scoring on a backhand shot past Robin Lehner (29 saves).
“I saw the guy to my right,” Marner said. “I just tried to pull it away from him and then tried to pull it away from Lehner.
“It went in, and it’s obviously a good feeling to see it go in.”
Lehner made a couple of fine stops on Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly, and another from close range on John Tavares during an power play early in the second period.
But Lehner couldn’t stop Matthews at 2:59 when he converted a cross-ice pass from Nylander. Matthews struck again with 44.6 seconds left in the period, lifting a rebound over Lehner.
Nylander scored off the rush early in the third period, with Brodie earning the secondary assist.
NOTES: Maple Leafs defenceman Travis Dermott missed most of the second period after blocking a shot. An X-ray was negative for serious injury and he returned to finish the game. ... Toronto defenseman TJ Brodie played his 700th career regular-season game.
UP NEXT
Golden Knights: At Ottawa on Thursday night.
Maple Leafs: Host Tampa Bay on Thursday night.
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