TORONTO — The Ducks allowed Auston Matthews to have his second straight hat trick to push his NHL-leading goals total to 48 and added two assists for a career-high five points on Saturday night. The Ducks lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs 9-2.
Ryan Strome had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, and Frank Vatrano also scored. Lukas Dostal allowed four goals on 18 shots in the first period before being replaced by John Gibson.
Matthews broke a tie for the Toronto record for hat tricks in a season with six, passing Reg Noble (1917-18), Babe Dye (1924-25) and Darryl Sittler (1980-81).
“It’s pretty remarkable,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said about Matthews. “Credit to him for getting into those spaces and being as dynamic as he is.”
The 26-year-old American is the 10th NHL player with six hat tricks in a season — and the first since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96.
“Playing here is a big honor,” Matthews said after again drawing “M-V-P! M-V-P!” chants from the home crowd. “It’s something that none of us take for granted.”
Matthews also had his team-record 73rd multi-goal game, two more than Sittler. He has 13 career hat tricks.
“Insane,” teammate William Nylander said. “Crushing it.”
William Nylander added a goal and two assists to reach 500 career points, Bobby McMann had two goals and an assist, Nick Robertson finished with a goal and an assist and Jake McCabe and Tyler Bertuzzi also scored.
Martin Jones made 19 saves to help Toronto improve to 29-16-8. Timothy Liljegren had three assists and Mitch Marner, Max Domi and Matthew Knies each had two.
Toronto became the 15th team in NHL history to have hat tricks in three straight games after McMann had the first of his career Tuesday night against St. Louis and Matthews followed that with three goals of his own Thursday night against Philadelphia. Matthews is the 10th player with six hat tricks in a season.
”We watched them skate around the ice for the better part of the first…
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