Auston Matthews has hat trick in Leafs' 5-1 win
Auston Matthews and William Nylander are showing no signs of any sophomore slump so far through the pre-season.
Matthews had a hat trick and an assist and Nylander had a goal and two assists as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-1 in an NHL preseason game on Monday night.
Matthews scored his first goal of the game 47 seconds into the first period. His wrist shot from just inside the blue line went over the right shoulder of Canadiens goaltender Al Montoya.
Matthews made it 2-0 at 4:56. Nylander's initial shot went high, and Matthews batted down the rebound and into an open side of the net.
He scored his third goal in the third period. While on a breakaway, Matthews shot the puck between the legs of Montoya at 3:46.
Matthews has four goals and two assists in three preseason games.
Jeff Petry scored for Montreal while on the power play at 11:37 of the second period.
Nylander scored at 6:03 of the third period to give Toronto a 5-1 lead.
Patrick Marleau also had a goal for Toronto while Frederik Andersen made 20 saves.
BRUINS 4, BLACKHAWKS 2
In Boston, Patrice Bergeron had a goal and an assist to lift the Boston Bruins to a 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Bergeron assisted on Anders Bjork's first-period goal - the third the Bruins scored in the first period. Bergeron later jammed a loose puck past Corey Crawford in the third. David Pastrnak and Jeremy Lauzon also scored for the Bruins.
Malcolm Subban made 24 saves for Boston.
Brandon Saad and John Hayden scored for Chicago, which received a 19-save effort from Crawford.
RANGERS 3, FLYERS 2, OT
In New York, Ryan McDonagh's goal at 3:51 of overtime to lift the Rangers to a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Henrik Lundqvist made 37 saves for New York, which got goals from Rick Nash and Mika Zibanejad.
Travis Sanheim scored both goals for the Flyers.
Michal Neuvirth made 27 saves for Philadelphia.
ISLANDERS 3, DEVILS 0, SS
DEVILS 8, SENATORS 1, SS
In New York, Thomas Greiss stopped all 25 shots for a shutout in the New York Islanders' 3-0 win over a New Jersey Devils split squad team.
Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal scored first-period goals for New York, and Johnny Boychuk added an empty-netter.
Keith Kinkaid played the entire game in goal for New Jersey, and made 42 saves. The Devils dressed a split squad roster for the game.
Those who didn't play against the Islanders were in Prince Edward Island, Canada, for the Kraft Hockeyville Canada game against the Ottawa Senators. Pavel Zacha scored two power-play goals in the first period.
John Quenneville scored twice in the second period and Drew Stafford also had two goals for the Devils at Consolidated Credit Union Place.
Nico Hischier, New Jersey's No. 1 pick in the draft, and Marcus Johansson rounded out the offense.
Thomas Chabot scored for the Senators.
Mike Condon started for Ottawa, stopping 10 of 17 shots. Andrew Hammond made five saves on six shots.
Cory Schneider had 12 saves for New Jersey.
RED WINGS 4, PENGUINS 1
In Detroit, goaltenders Jimmy Howard and Tom McCollum combined for 18 saves to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Howard started the game for Detroit, and he made 11 saves in the first two periods before being replaced by McCollum, who stopped all seven shots he faced in the third.
Michael Rasmussen, Anthony Mantha, Tomas Tatar and Xavier Ouellet scored for the Red Wings.
Tristan Jarry made 23 saves for the reigning Stanley Cup champion Penguins, whose lone goal was scored by Scott Wilson.
JETS 5, FLAMES 2
In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Patrik Laine scored a pair of power-play goals and added three assists to help the Winnipeg Jets earn their first victory of the preseason with a 5-2 win over the Calgary Flames.
Steve Mason made 26 saves for Winnipeg and Eddie Lack stopped 29 shots for the Flames.
Winnipeg's top power-play unit featured center Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Laine.
Scheifele opened the scoring. Laine scored midway through the first and in the opening minute of the second period. Nikolaj Ehlers then scored at even strength to make it 4-2, Winnipeg's first even-strength goal of the exhibition season. Dustin Byfuglien finished it off with a power-play goalie late in third. The Jets have nine power-play goals in the preseason.
Wheeler and Scheifele each had three assists.
Calgary's scorers were Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk, who was playing his first preseason game after missing four with a hip problem.
AVALANCHE 4, STARS 2
In Dallas, Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist to spark the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars.
Rantanen's empty-net goal with 37 seconds left sealed the win for the Avalanche. He also recorded the primary assist on Nathan MacKinnon's game-opening goal. Matt Nieto and Alexander Kerfoot added second-period goals.
Colorado started Jonathan Bernier in goal and he made 25 saves on 26 shots in the first two periods. Seymon Varlamov played the third and made nine saves.
Brett Ritchie and Julius Honka scored for the Stars.
Dallas' Ben Bishop finished with 20 saves.
HURRICANES 6, OILERS 2
In Edmonton, Alberta, Jordan Staal scored twice and added an assist and Teuvo Teravainen also had two goals and the Carolina Hurricanes came away with a 6-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Lucas Wallmark and Janne Kuokkanen also scored for the Hurricanes, who improved to 4-1 in exhibition action.
Ryan Strome and Kailer Yamamoto scored for the Oilers, who suffered their first preseason loss to fall to 5-1.
DUCKS 6, COYOTES 4
In Tucson, Ariz., Rickard Rakell's go-ahead goal at 11:58 of the third period lifted the Anaheim Ducks to a 6-4 win over Arizona Coyotes.
Nick Ritchie scored twice, and Brandon Montour, Dennis Rasmussen and Logan Shaw added a goal apiece for the Ducks, who had a 21-save performance from Ryan Miller.
Arizona goaltenders Louis Domingue and Marek Langhamer each allowed three goals. Domingue finished with 16 saves, while Langhamer made 10 stops.
Mario Kempe, Brendan Perlini, Kyle Wood and Dylan Strome scored for the Coyotes.