Matthews hat trick powers Maple Leafs past Seattle Kraken 6-4

TORONTO (AP) — Auston Matthews had his third hat trick of the season to raise his NHL-leading goal total to 43 as the Toronto Maple Leafs rallied to beat the Seattle Kraken 6-4 on Tuesday night.

Toronto Maple Leafs 6, Seattle Kraken 4: Box score

Mitch Marner scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period, and William Nylander and John Tavares each added a goal and an assist for Toronto, which got 26 saves from Jack Campbell.

T.J. Brodie and Michael Bunting had two assists apiece and Marner, who also had an assist, extended his point streak to eight games.

Auston Matthews (@AM34) nets his third @enterprise hat trick of the season! 🧢 pic.twitter.com/Cu5bWFkI5R

— NHL (@NHL) March 9, 2022

Colin Blackwell had a goal and an assist and Carson Soucy, Alex Wennberg and Jaden Schwartz also scored for Seattle. Philipp Grubauer stopped 25 shots for the expansion Kraken, who fell to 1-9-1 in their last 11 games.

Seattle scored twice in the second period to tie the game 3-all before Schwartz tipped his seventh of the season past Campbell at 5:57 of the third. Toronto has allowed four goals or more for the eighth time in 10 games.

The Leafs responded at 9:03, when Matthews took a pass from Bunting, who was robbed by Grubauer moments earlier, and scored his second of the game.

Toronto went on the power play and Marner delayed at the top of the slot after the ensuing Tavares faceoff win and scored his 22nd goal between Grubauer’s pads just 40 seconds later.

Matthews finished things off with the sixth hat trick of his career with 41.8 seconds left in regulation, with Grubauer on the bench for an extra attacker.

Coming off Monday’s 5-4 road victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets, and playing their third of four games in six nights, the Maple Leafs opened the scoring at 3:18 of the first when Matthews fired his 41st past Grubauer as Toronto’s top-ranked power play connected for just the second time in 10 games.

The Kraken tied it at 5:21 when Soucy fired his seventh over Campbell off a broken play in front.

But the Maple Leafs responded at 9:55, when Tavares scored his 19th off a pass from Brodie and a quick feed from Pierre Engvall.

Toronto made it 3-1 on another man advantage at 5:14 of the second when Nylander fired his 22nd through Grubauer’s pads against Seattle’s 28th-ranked penalty kill.

The Kraken got back to within one at 9:20 when Wennberg finished a nice give-and-go on a 2-on-1 rush with Marcus Johansson for his seventh of the season.

Seattle tied it just 2:29 later when Nylander turned the puck over at the offensive blue line on a Toronto power play. Seattle raced the other way on a 3-on-1, with Blackwell finishing off a Yanni Gourde pass for his eighth.

🔥 BLACKWELL IS ON FIRE!! 🔥

drop some 🔥's if you agree pic.twitter.com/IlSciJuMA0

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 9, 2022

Notes: Toronto winger Wayne Simmonds was honored before puck drop for playing in the 1,000th regular-season game of his career Saturday. … Leafs winger Ondrej Kase (upper-body injury) returned to the lineup after missing four straight contests. … McCann signed a five-year, $25 million contract extension Tuesday. … Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol was a Toronto assistant in both 2019-20 and 2020-21.

UP NEXT

Seattle Kraken: At Ottawa Senators on Thursday in the fourth game of a five-game trip.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Host Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.

Seattle Kraken ink leading-scorer Jared McCann to five-year extension