It turns out losing Morgan Rielly isn’t a death sentence.
It was only the New Jersey Devils, but the alarmingly undermanned Toronto Maple Leafs returned to their winning and mostly-dominant ways with a 7-4 victory on home ice Tuesday night. In a game in which the scoreline largely flattered the losing side, Auston Matthews registered the first three-goal game of his career and first hat trick since his four-goal NHL debut, while New Jersey’s Blake Coleman enjoyed a three-goal outburst as well.
Frederik Andersen survived a start for just the second time in four outings and made 25 saves for the victory, while Louis Domingue was pulled from the New Jersey net early in the second period after allowing five goals on 19 shots.