TORONTO — Jake McCabe scored at 1:30 of OT and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Monday night.
Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 65th goal of the season and had an assist, while Matthew Knies also scored for Toronto. Ilya Samsonov saved 29 shots.
Rickard Rakell and Drew O’Connor scored for Pittsburgh, which has a 6-0-3 record in the last nine games to get back into the Eastern Conference playoff race. Alex Nedeljkovic made 20 saves.
The Penguins are tied with Detroit for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference and are one point behind the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
In the extra period, McCabe took a pass from Auston Matthews after a near mix-up at Toronto’s bench and scored his eighth goal of the season.
Matthews gave Toronto a 2-1 lead on the power play at 1:22 of the third period when he shot a one-timer 3 seconds into the man advantage. Matthews has scored six times in the last five games and is on pace to score 69 goals with five games left in the season as he tries to become the first player to reach 70 in over three decades.
Matthews’ 65 goals matched Alex Ovechkin’s total from 2007-08 — the most by an active player and the NHL’s high-water mark since Mario Lemieux scored 69 in 1995-96.
However, Pittsburgh tied it with 6:42 remaining when Drew O’Connor scored his 14th after a scramble in the crease.
The Penguins were nine points below the playoff cutline on March 27, but have got back into the race with a nine-game point streak and some average performances from the teams above and around them in the standings.
Toronto stopped two Pittsburgh power plays, including a good opportunity by Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, in a quiet first period for the Maple Leafs.
Evgeni Malkin capitalized on a turnover by Ilya Lyubushkin and passed to Rakell, who got the puck to his stick before spinning and scoring his 14th with former Maple Leafs forward Michael Bunting creating a screen with 1:54 left in the first period.
Toronto, which has already secured a postseason spot, started the second period with some dominant shifts in the offensive zone before T.J. Brodie found Knies at the lip of the Pittsburgh crease to redirect his 15th past Nedeljkovic.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Host Detroit on Thursday night to start a three-game homestand.
Maple Leafs: At New Jersey on Tuesday night.
