Matvei Gridin scores twice as Flames beat Maple Leafs 5-2

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Matvei Gridin scored twice as the surging Calgary Flames made it four straight wins with a 5-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night.

Mikael Backlund also scored for Calgary, while Joel Farabee and Martin Pospisil added empty-netters. Farabee, who also had an assist, and Matt Coronato, who had a pair of assists, extended their point streaks to five games.

Easton Cowan and William Nylander scored for the Leafs, whose four-game win streak came to an end. Auston Matthews had an assist on Nylander’s goal for his 800th NHL point. He is the fastest player in Leafs history to reach that milestone and the second-fastest U.S.-born player to reach 800 career points, doing so in 703 games.

Devin Cooley made 26 stops to improve to 4-2-0.

Sergei Bobrovsky had 29 saves for Toronto.

Calgary grabbed control of the game midway through the first period on goals less than two minutes apart by Gridin and Backlund. Backlund returned after missing two games with an upper-body injury.

Gridin’s first goal at 10:05 came from a sharp angle off the left wing when he picked the top corner on Bobrovsky’s short side.

Gridin’s second of the night was scored on the power play 25 seconds into the second period. It was another top corner snipe, this one over Bobrovsky’s other shoulder.

Toronto’s Kirill Marchenko (lower body) left the game early in the second period after he went into the boards awkwardly after a hit from Yegor Sharangovich.

Calgary beat Toronto for the first time since Feb. 10, 2022. The Leafs had won the last eight meetings. It was Toronto’s longest active winning streak against any opponent.

Up next

Maple Leafs: Visit the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday night.

Flames: Visit the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.

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