BUFFALO, N.Y. — Auston Matthews scored his 39th goal to set the record for most by an American-born rookie and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-2 on Monday night to move closer to clinching their second playoff berth in 12 seasons.
Neal Broten held the old record, scoring 38 goals in 73 games for the Minnesota North Stars in 1981-82.
Nazem Kadri had a goal and an assist, James van Rimedsyk and Leo Komarov also scored, and Frederick Andersen made 18 saves for the Maple Leafs in their fourth straight win.
The victory vaulted Toronto (39-24-15) one point ahead of Boston (43-30-6) for second place in the Atlantic Division.
Jack Eichel and Ryan O’Reilly scored for Buffalo. Robin Lehner was pulled after giving up three goals on five shots in the first five minutes, and Anders Nillson stopped 32 of the 33 shots he faced.
CANADIENS 4, PANTHERS 1: Artturi Lehkonen scored twice in the third period and had an assist to help visiting Montreal clinch the Atlantic Division title.
Andrew Shaw and Alexander Radulov also scored for the Canadiens, and Charlie Lindgren stopped 31 shots in his second NHL start.
Jonathan Marchessault scored for Florida and Reto Berra finished with 27 saves.
Marchessault, who has 11 goals in his last 16 games, became the first Panther with 30 or more goals since David Booth totaled 31 in the 2008-09 season.
RED WINGS 5, SENATORS 4: Evgeni Svechnikov scored the only goal of the shootout in his NHL debut, lifting Detroit to a win at home.
In the seventh round of the shootout, Svechnikov went to his backhand and slid the puck between the pads of Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson.
Tomas Tatar had a goal and an assist, and Frans Nielsen, Gustav Nyquist and Dylan Larkin scored in regulation for Detroit, Nick Jensen had two assists and Petr Mrazek stopped 41 shots.
Kyle Turris and Fredrik Claesson scored 4:09 apart in the third period to tie the score for the Senators, who pulled into a tie with Boston for third place in the Atlantic Division. Ottawa is technically ahead at the moment with a game in hand on the Bruins.
NOTES
DEVILS: The NHL suspended defenseman Dalton Prout two games for interference against Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas during a game on Saturday.
In announcing the punishment, the league noted that Prout is considered a repeat offender under the terms of the CBA.
He will forfeit his two-game salary of $38,414.64, with the money going to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
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