Auston Matthews scored his second goal of the game midway through the third period to end a tie and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Minnesota Wild 3-1 on Thursday night.
Matthews has 36 goals for the season to move into the league lead.
Alexander Kerfoot also scored for the Maple Leafs, who had lost their previous three games. Mitchell Marner added two assists and Petr Mrazek made 29 saves for Toronto.
Frederick Gaudreau scored for the Wild, who have lost four of five.
Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 22 shots for Minnesota.
Toronto’s Michael Bunting hit the goal post with his shot on a breakaway at 9:52 of the first period.
Minnesota had a 6-5 advantage in shots on goal after a tight-checking first period. Each team had a power play in the period.
Toronto’s Wayne Simmonds was foiled by Kahkonen on his blast from the slot at 8:02 of the second period.
Minnesota took the lead on Gaudreau’s sixth goal of the season at 8:37 of the second period. Matt Boldy passed the puck from behind the goal to Gaudreau, who was parked low in the right circle. Kevin Fiala also earned an assist.
Matthews scored 27 seconds later. He took an outlet pass at center ice from Timothy Liljegren, weaved to his left around a defender and shot from the top edge of the left circle. Travis Dermott picked up the other assist.
Minnesota led 17-15 in shots on goal after two periods.
Rasmus Sandin tested Kahkonen with a dangerous wrist shot at 5:37 of the third period.
Matthews scored again at 10:22 of the third. He stole the puck in the neutral zone and finished a give-and-go with Marner with a close-in wrist shot.
Mrazek was forced to make some good saves to protect the lead.
Kerfoot then scored into an empty net, his eighth goal of the season, at 19:18 of the third.
Toronto lost Ilya Mikheyev (non-COVID illness) early in the game.
Jake Muzzin (concussion protocol) did not play for Toronto.
Jordan Greenway (upper-body injury) did not play for Minnesota.
–Field Level Media