Mitch Marner and new lines click as Maple Leafs hold off Habs

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Spreadsheet accounting put the Maple Leafs in the black on Saturday night.

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With a goal from three restructured lines featuring at least one Core Four forward, Toronto struck early in the second period in filing a 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

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Right winger Mitch Marner, after a dozen games away with an ankle injury, assisted on Bobby McMann’s goal, but by then his regular centre Auston Matthews had bagged his league-leading 64th with new linemates Max Domi and Tyler Bertuzzi, while William Nylander was party to a Matthew Knies goal.

John Tavares centred Marner and McMann, but given the Matthews – Marner magic of the past, it can only be called an experiment right now with the final playoff picture to be settled.

Nylander got extra work at right wing after fourth liner Ryan Reaves had to leave for a stint with a hand injury while getting the better of Michael Pezzetta in a first-period scrap.

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In possibly their last game against a team that is eliminated from playoff contention, and coming off a couple of intense foes in the Bolts and Panthers — the Leafs were sluggish to start. They lost 11 of 15 draws, had passes picked off and lacked finish around goalie Samuel Montembeault.

But head coach Sheldon Keefe, who is known to swap horses in games that aren’t producing results, didn’t alter his offensive plans and it paid off with two goals in 17 seconds by Domi and Matthews and two more less than six minutes into the middle period. Matthews reached around both the net and a Canadiens’ defenceman for a perfect sweep shot.

Montembeault was replaced after the fourth goal by Cayden Primeau and the Habs rallied on a power-play goal by Nick Suzuki and late in the second period 5-on-5 by Cole Caufield. Ilya Samsonov locked it down from there, making 24 saves as Toronto completed a three-game sweep of the season’s series with the Habs.

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MAXIMUM MATTHEWS

After getting just one shot in the first period, Matthews’s goal put him at 100 points for the second time in his career, with Darryl Sittler and Doug Gilmour the only other Leafs to reach that multiple, one behind Jeremy Roenick’s record of three triple-pointers by an American-born NHLer.

It also gave Matthews 11 goals at the Bell Centre, most by a Leaf in the building’s history. Matthews, who also hit the post in the third, has a 10-game points streak of nine goals and nine assists. Booed every time he touched the puck by Montreal fans in another well attended road game by visiting fans, he took it in stride as a sign of respect in “a big-time hockey city. I don’t mind it at all.”

REAVES FEELING PUNCHY

When the Leafs bench saw Pezzetta pop David Kampf from behind and shake up the fourth line centre, Reaves sprung into action. He got out on a draw against Pezzetta, who tried to get the get the jump on the more seasoned Toronto enforcer. Reaves had words for the Montreal bench as he departed for the box, the whole episode getting Matthews visibly fired up on Toronto’s bench.

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“I love watching him do what he does,” Matthews told reporters in Montreal. ”He’s the best in the world at it for a reason.

“It’s moments like those where you realize how important he is to the team and what he brings on the ice as well as off.”

But the side show of an Arber Xhekaj fight with Reaves was cancelled with the former’s upper-body injury sidelining him. The Canadiens’ blueline was also missing a banged-up Kaiden Guhle, after a heavy hit by Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov on Thursday. Guhle missed four games earlier this season with a concussion.

GAME ON

Toronto tied its club record for most road wins with 23, and a chance to break it Tuesday in New Jersey … Keefe said after the game there’s hope defenceman Timothy Liljegren (upper body) and forward Calle Jarnkrok (hand) get back for the last two games at Florida and Tampa Bay before the regular-season runs out … Changes on Toronto’s defence saw Mark Giordano and TJ Brodie re-united from their Calgary Flames days … It was defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin’s 30th birthday, assisting on Domi’s goal with a nice point shot. The play that began with Matthews confusing the Habs by not touching a puck that came back up top to Lyubushkin … Defenceman Simon Benoit’s first game in his hometown as a Leaf came after Keefe made the hard decision to scratch him March 9 to accommodate trade deadline changes. There were lots of family and friends to secure tickets for and he was in the starting lineup. It was also good for the francophone media, who’ve been without a regular Leaf to interview since Frederik Gauthier. ‘The Goat’ is now playing in Switzerland … Benoit and Pontus Holmberg got caught chasing the same man around the net on the Caufield goal … Matthews and Marner did end up together a couple of times, such as 4-on-4 play and on Toronto’s only power play in the third period … Nylander’s 309th assist passed Ron Ellis for 13th in franchise history … This was NHL coaching win No. 210 for Keefe, passing Larry Robinson for sole possession of 80th in league annals.

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