Flames have no answer for Matthews as Leafs sniper nets hat-trick to snap Calgary winning streak
The Calgary Flames had heart, but the Toronto Maple Leafs had Auston Matthews.
Matthews scored a hat-trick to lead the visiting Leafs to a 4-3 win over the Flames at the Saddledome — ending the hosts’ season-high winning streak at four.
The Flames nearly had another third-period comeback. At one point, the score briefly read 4-4 when rookie Connor Zary tapped in what looked like the tying goal after a back-and-forth contest saw Calgary fall behind 4-2 with goals from Matthews and Mitch Marner.
A challenge from beleaguered bench boss Sheldon Keefe negated the score, however, when his eyes in the sky spotted a hand pass by Flames winger Blake Coleman on the play and the Leafs challenge was successful.
The Flames got the nod on an earlier review when Andrew Mangiapane’s kick was irrelevant on his ninth of the year to bring the Flames to within one goal late in the second period.
The hosts had the lead in the first period with yet another goal from Yegor Sharangovich — his 19th of the season and sixth in his last four outings — and one from Nazem Kadri (16) before Matthews netted his first (36) with about a minute and a half to play in the opening 20 minutes.
He added his second 4:08 into the middle frame, then assisted on Marner’s go-ahead goal before making the hats rain down from the Saddledome seats with his 37th of the year at 13:39 of the period.
The stars made the difference in former Flames GM Brad Treliving’s return to Calgary with his new team. He didn’t have the same roster luxury with the Flames.
Although the Flames’ 10-million-dollar man, Jonathan Huberdeau, has been heating up and had two more assists on the night, he’s not the gamebreaker Matthews — or Marner, or William Nylander — can be on any given game day.
And while the Leafs are all-in on the playoffs and Stanley Cup dreams this season (in spite of some questionable play of late), the Flames are nearly halfway through a six-game homestand that should help determine their direction at the NHL trade deadline.
Another big challenge comes knocking on Saturday, with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers visiting the Dome on Hockey Night in Canada.
Dan Vladar took another loss to the Leafs (He’s 0-4 now) but made 29 saves before being pulled for the extra attacker.
Martin Jones got the win for the Leafs.
At least the Flames looked pretty good overall while taking the loss. Not so good was the Martin Pospisil injury. He left the game and didn’t return after crashing heavily into the boards late in the first period. The rookie was replaced by Adam Ruzicka on the Kadri line.