Matthew Knies nets hat trick as Leafs beat Bruins 6-4 in Auston Matthews return

TORONTO — The return from injury of Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews proved to be quite the tonic for linemates Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner on Saturday night.

Knies recorded his first career NHL hat trick and added two assists and Marner had a goal and four assists while Matthews contributed a goal and two assists as Toronto downed the Boston Bruins 6-4.

“It’s pretty nice getting (number) 34 back down the middle,” said Leafs defenceman Jake McCabe, who scored his first goal of the season. “He (Matthews) was his normal self out there, heavy on pucks, making plays happen, responsible defensively.

“That line was obviously tremendous for us tonight.”

Matthews returned after a six-game absence due to an undisclosed upper-body injury that had sidelined him since Dec. 20. The star centre has missed 15 of the team’s 40 games this season, also sitting out nine contests in November, with Toronto going 10-5-0 without him.

“I felt good. I thought my linemates made it pretty easy for me tonight too,” Matthews said with a smile. “The chemistry was there.”

Knies assisted on late empty-net goals by Marner and Matthews to fend off a stubborn Bruins effort.

“It felt incredible. I felt the luck back on my side,” said Knies. “That was a good game, a good overall effort from all of us in here.”

Listed at six foot three and 227 pounds, Knies is difficult to stop.

“He’s an absolute horse down there. You can’t get the puck from him,” said McCabe

Boston rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 down, with David Pastrnak tying the game at 3-3 just 34 seconds after Knies’ second of the night had put Toronto ahead at 4:17 of the third period.

Knies restored the Leafs lead with his 14th of the season at 5:28, beating Jeremy Swayman after taking a feed from Matthews from behind the goal. After Marner’s empty-net goal, Pastrnak added his second of the evening to make it 5-4 with less than two minutes remaining.

A sliding Matthews then capped the evening with his 12th of the season, poking the puck into the empty net with 31 seconds remaining.

Toronto (25-13-2) won its third straight and fourth of its last five.

Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic also scored for Boston (20-17-4) in the finale of a three-game road trip that saw earlier losses to Washington and the New York Rangers.

“We didn’t do a good enough job tonight,” said interim Boston coach Joe Sacco. “We were not hard enough in certain areas of the game tonight.

“Give Toronto credit. They played hard, especially below the tops of the circles. … We just have to be harder to play against down low.”

Pastrnak scored twice but was minus-four on the night. The Knies-Matthews-Marner line was plus-16.

Toronto opened the scoring for the fifth straight game and is 17-2-1 when scoring first this season.

McCabe’s goal, at 3:29 of the first period, was the first by a Leaf defenceman since Nov. 30 when Chris Tanev scored in a 5-3 win over Tampa Bay (in Matthews’ first return from injury). Going into Saturday’s game, Toronto had scored 50 goals in 16 outings since then without its blueliners accounting for any of them.

McCabe said the Leafs defencemen weren’t fazed by the lack of goals.

“We’re not worried about scoring goals on the back end. We’re worried about winning hockey games and that’s keeping the puck out of our net. … We’ve got enough guys in this room that can score,” he said. “Obviously it’s nice to contribute when we do but that’s not our priority.”

McCabe’s goal came on Matthews’ second shift of the game. Matthews set up Knies’ first of the night early in the second period, coming off the bench and firing a shot at goal that Knies redirected past Swayman.

Geekie’s ninth of the season came just 12 seconds later, cutting the lead to 2-1. Frederic tied it 2-2 at 18:44 of the second.

Boston outshot Toronto 31-29 with Leafs goalie Joseph Woll winning his fourth straight start.

UP NEXT

Bruins: Host the New York Islanders on Sunday.

Maple Leafs: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday with the two teams meeting again Tuesday in Philadelphia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 4, 2025

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press