TORONTO — Auston Matthews scored the winner in the third period as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Washington Capitals 3-2 in their home opener Thursday.
John Tavares and Calle Jarnkrok had the other goals for Toronto. Morgan Rielly added two assists.
Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves against his former team as the Leafs (1-1-0) rebounded from a disappointing 4-3 road loss to the Montreal Canadiens in Wednesday's curtain-raiser.
Nic Dowd and Marcus Johansson replied for Washington.
Charlie Lindgren stopped 36 shots for the Capitals (0-2-0), who were coming of a 5-2 loss to the Boston Bruins in their home opener 24 hours earlier.