{"id":533440,"date":"2026-03-13T09:54:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T09:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/533440\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T09:54:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T09:54:25","slug":"toronto-maple-leafs-top-ducks-to-end-winless-streak-auston-matthews-injured-after-knee-on-knee-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/533440\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Maple Leafs top Ducks to end winless streak; Auston Matthews injured after knee-on-knee hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 William Nylander<\/a> scored the go-ahead goal on a power play 36 seconds into the third period as the Maple Leafs came back from a 3-1 deficit to top the Anaheim Ducks<\/a> 6-4 and snap an eight-game slide Thursday on a night that saw Toronto lose captain Auston Matthews<\/a> to injury.<\/p>\n

Matias Maccelli<\/a>, with a goal and two assists, Matthews, John Tavares<\/a> and Benoit-Olivier Groulx<\/a>, against his former team, provided the rest of the offence for Toronto (28-27-11).<\/p>\n

Matthew Knies<\/a> chipped in three assists to go along with an empty-net goal. Nylander added two assists of his own for a three-point performance. Joseph Woll<\/a> made 36 saves.<\/p>\n

Matthews ended a 12-game goal drought \u2014 the second longest of his career \u2014 but took a knee-on-knee hit from Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas<\/a> with four minutes left in the second period. The centre stayed down favouring his left leg before being helped to the locker room. Gudas was assessed a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct.<\/p>\n

Cutter Gauthier<\/a>, Ian Moore<\/a>, Pavel Mintyukov<\/a> and Alex Killorn<\/a> scored for Anaheim (36-26-3). Lukas Dostal<\/a> stopped 22 shots as the Pacific Division-leading Ducks fell to 15-5-0 over their last 20 games. Jeffrey Viel had two assists.<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs are an ugly 1-6-2 since the Olympic break to sink any realistic hope of a 10th straight playoff appearance. The Original Six franchise won at home for the first time since Jan. 10 to end a 0-6-2 stretch at Scotiabank Arena.<\/p>\n

TAKEAWAYS<\/p>\n

Maple Leafs: Rugged winger Michael Pezzetta<\/a> made his Toronto debut. The 27-year-old local product was recalled earlier in the day from the American Hockey League, where he\u2019s registered four goals, six assists and 52 penalty minutes across 37 games. Pezzetta had a spirited fight with Viel one second after the opening faceoff.<\/p>\n

Ducks: The club leads the Pacific with 75 points but would be below the playoff cutline in the Eastern Conference. <\/p>\n

KEY MOMENT<\/p>\n

Matthews tried to avoid Gudas in the slot in the second with his team down 3-2, but took a direct hit to his left knee from the hard-nosed blueliner. Tavares scored on the ensuing power play before Nylander gave Toronto the lead on the same man advantage early in the third.<\/p>\n

KEY STAT<\/p>\n

Anaheim has lost eight straight in Toronto dating back to Dec. 19, 2016. The Maple Leafs have also won six in a row overall against Thursday\u2019s opponent.<\/p>\n

UP NEXT<\/p>\n

Ducks: Visit the Ottawa Senators<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Maple Leafs: Visit the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> on Saturday. <\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2026.<\/p>\n

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 William Nylander scored the go-ahead goal on a power play 36 seconds into the third period…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,82,3302],"class_list":["post-533440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}