Matvei Gridin scored twice and added an assist as the Calgary Flames beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Monday for a fourth straight win, in a game in which Auston Matthews recorded his 800th career point.
Matvei Gridin had two goals and an assist for the Calgary Flames, who won their fourth straight game with a 5-2 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday. It was the first three-point game in the NHL for Gridin, selected in the first round, 28th overall, in the 2024 draft. The win completed a 4-0-0 homestand for Calgary, now 5-6-0, while Toronto fell to 7-5-2 and saw a four-game winning run end.
Gridin opened the scoring at 10:05 of the first period and added a power-play goal 25 seconds into the second for a 3-0 lead. Mikael Backlund scored in his return after missing two games with an upper-body injury, a goal that was his 609th career point and tied Johnny Gaudreau for fifth on Calgary's all-time list. Joel Farabee and Martin Pospisil each had a goal and an assist, scoring into the empty net at 18:35 and 19:21 respectively, and Devin Cooley made 26 saves to win his fourth consecutive start.
Toronto replied through Easton Cowan at 12:54 of the second period and William Nylander at 6:06 of the third. Nylander's goal gave Auston Matthews his 800th career point, on 437 goals and 363 assists, in his 703rd game, making him the fastest player in Maple Leafs history to reach the mark; Darryl Sittler was the previous fastest, in 742 games. Sergei Bobrovsky, making his 800th NHL start, made 29 saves in the loss. Maple Leafs forward Kirill Marchenko left with a lower-body injury in the second period and did not return.
The scorers, goal times and records agree across the league's game recap and the Maple Leafs' own recap of the same game. One point remains open: Toronto coach Jim Hiller said he did not have a full update on Marchenko, who took a hit from Yegor Sharangovich and played one more 14-second shift before leaving, so the severity of that injury and any absence should not be assumed.
Calgary coach Ryan Huska said his team looks faster because it is playing a simpler brand of hockey, and Gridin said the group is playing great hockey and should keep it going. For Toronto, the defeat ends a run of four straight wins and hands Matthews a milestone in a losing cause; the Flames, having finished their homestand unbeaten, carry the confidence of four straight wins into the next stretch of their schedule.