Game 740
Maple Leafs 4, Canadiens 2
Saturday, April 7, 2018
Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario

The Toronto Maple Leafs set a team record for points in a season at 105 with a 4-2 win against the Montréal Canadiens at Air Canada Centre on Saturday.

Toronto’s previous record was 103 points during the 2003-04 season.

“It’s really cool. To get that record is great, it’s a milestone, but it’s something you put in your back pocket and you look forward to the playoffs,” Maple Leafs forward Zach Hyman said. “That’s where everything really matters. Everybody remembers the good playoff teams and the teams that win in the playoffs, not the good regular season teams.”

Frederik Andersen made 31 saves for the Maple Leafs (49-26-7) to win a team-record 38th game in a single season. Andersen had shared the record at 37 wins with Ed Belfour (2002-03) and Andrew Raycroft (2006-07).

“It’s fun when you set goals at the beginning of the year and you achieve some of them, but it goes without saying there’s bigger goals,” Andersen said. “It’s important to have goals in between that and have something to play for in the regular season. It shows how well we’ve been playing all year.”

Zach Hyman, Auston Matthews, Nazem Kadri and Patrick Marleau scored, and Jake Gardiner had two assists for the Maple Leafs, who finished third in the Atlantic Division and face either the Boston Bruins or Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference First Round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“We weren’t very good through two periods but we found a way to win and it’s real good for Freddie,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “I think it’s fantastic for him to have the Leafs record. He’s been a huge part of our team since he’s come here. To have that record is a special, special thing. The guys were pumped for him.”

Daniel Carr and Jeff Petry scored, and Carey Price made 26 saves for the Canadiens (29-40-13), whose season ended after failing to qualify for the playoffs.

“We’re still playing the game that we love but the games haven’t been meaningful and it’s a tough feeling when you’re playing a team, especially (the Maple Leafs), for us to have the season end earlier than we would have liked. It’s not a good feeling, you feel like you failed,” Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher said. “You have to remember it, it’s a wasted season if we haven’t learned our lessons. If we don’t learn from it, we’re going to continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.”

Hyman scored 37 seconds into the third period to put the Maple Leafs up 2-1, scoring on a rebound off a shot from Matthews in the slot.

Kadri scored at 17:10 on the power play to make it 3-1.

Petry cut the lead to 3-2 on the power play with 41 seconds remaining.

Marleau scored with 10 seconds left on a giveaway by Price in front of the net for a 4-2 advantage.

The Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead at 18:05 of the first period when Matthews took a cross-ice pass from William Nylander on the power play and shot from the left face-off circle.

“I’ve seen it before (from Nylander) so I kind of just expect it to come through,” Matthews said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s going through stick, skates, he seems to find that seam pretty well. It was an unbelievable pass by him.”

The Canadiens tied it 1-1 at 16:04 of the second period. Kerby Rychel’s shot created a rebound that deflected off Michael McCarron to Carr, who shot past Andersen from the top of the goal crease.

NOTES: Matthews extended his point streak to 10 games (seven goals, seven assists)…Gallagher has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his past nine games…Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past nine games.

Story property of NHL.com, photo property of Franco

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BOXSCORE
1st Period
MTL PEN – 16:29 – Lehkonen, tripping
TOR PP GOAL – 18:05 – Matthews (Nylander, Gardiner)

2nd Period
TOR PEN – 06:02 – Hyman, holding
TOR PEN – 08:40 – Marner, tripping
MTL PEN – 12:46 – Deslauriers, interference
MTL GOAL – 16:04 – Carr (McCarron, Rychel)
MTL PEN – 18:24 – Froese, slashing

3rd Period
TOR GOAL – 00:37 – Hyman (Matthews, Gardiner)
TOR PEN – 02:24 – Komarov, elbowing
MTL PEN – 04:35 – McCarron, slashing
MTL PEN – 16:15 – McCarron, tripping
TOR PP GOAL – 17:10 – Kadri (Bozak, Rielly)
TOR PEN – 17:33 – Matthews, cross checking
MTL EA PP GOAL – 19:19 – Petry (Gallagher, Drouin)
TOR GOAL – 19:50 – Marleau

GOALTENDERS
TOR – Andersen (W, 31-33)
MTL – Price (L, 26-30)

SHOTS ON GOAL
TOR – 6+8+16 = 30
MTL – 10+10+13 = 33

ROSTERS
TOR – Goaltenders: Frederik Andersen, Curtis McElhinney. Defence: Travis Dermott, Jake Gardiner, Ron Hainsey, Roman Polak, Morgan Rielly (A), Nikita Zaitsev. Forwards: Tyler Bozak (A), Connor Brown, Zach Hyman, Nazem Kadri, Kasperi Kapanen, Leo Komarov (A), Patrick Marleau, Mitchell Marner, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Tomas Plekanec, James van Riemsdyk.
MTL – Goaltenders: Antti Niemi, Carey Price. Defence: Karl Alzner, Jordie Benn, Noah Juulsen, Brett Lernout, Jeff Petry (A), Mike Reilly. Forwards: Paul Byron (A), Daniel Carr, Jacob de la Rose, Nicolas Deslauriers, Jonathan Drouin, Byron Froese, Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher (A), Artturi Lehkonen, Michael McCarron, Kerby Rychel, Logan Shaw.

TEAM RECORDS
TOR – 49-26-7 (.640)
MTL – 29-40-13 (.433)

ATTENDANCE
19,525

THREE STARS
⭐ Frederik Andersen (TOR)
⭐⭐ Auston Matthews (TOR)
⭐⭐⭐ Zach Hyman (TOR)