Matthews' second goal of the night at 18:51 of the third period gave Toronto a 5-3 lead, but proved to be the winner when Detroit's Mike Green tallied with 44.2 seconds left in regulation.
With two goals and an assist, Matthews tied Peter Ihnacak's Leafs rookie points record of 66, set in 1982-83.
James van Riemsdyk scored with 2:36 left in the third period to snap the 3-3 tie and put the Leafs ahead for good. Van Riemsdyk slipped a backhander past Detroit's Jimmy Howard.
The Montreal Canadiens are the class of the Atlantic Division, and they aren't about to let the rest of the Eastern Conference forget it.
Canadiens winger Alexander Radulov made sure of this on Saturday night, wiring home a monstrous one-timer in overtime to clinch a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The tally, set up by captain Max Pacioretty, was Radulov's 17th of the season, and just his second game-winner. Montreal's victory gives them 45 wins in 2016-17, as well as a division-leading 99 points.
The 25-year-old, who's been toiling away in the AHL since 2011, debuted to little fanfare back in December. Since making his way back to the Lightning roster in early March, Gourde has come up with a few spectacular offensive efforts.
He's ramped things up as of late, however, coming up with three goals in as many games - the latest coming during Tampa Bay's Saturday night tilt against the Montreal Canadiens.
Gourde's goal came by way of a slick top-shelf deflection that found its way past Carey Price, which wound up being Tampa Bay's only goal of the night.
Gourde is simply the latest in a long line of young Lightning forwards showing offensive promise. That's nothing new for Tampa Bay, as they already possess two of the game's finest goal-scorers, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, as well as one of the brightest playmakers of the future in Jonathan Drouin.
The odds of the Lightning making the playoffs this season remain slim, but with depth options like Gourde doing their part, the club might just have enough offensive juice to hold on until reinforcements return to the lineup.
John Klingberg and Devin Shore added empty-netters and Lehtonen stopped 25 shots in his second shutout in six starts to help the Stars snap a two-game losing streak and deal a serious blow to the Hurricanes' already slim playoff chances.
Cam Ward stopped 21 shots for Carolina, which began four points behind Boston for the East's final playoff spot with six games left and Tampa Bay between the teams.
The Hurricanes failed to earn a point for the first time since losing at Colorado on March 7 - a club-record stretch of 13 straight games with either a win or an overtime loss. They fell to 2-4-2 against the bottom four teams in the Western Conference: Dallas, Vancouver, Arizona and Colorado.
Dallas scored more than two goals for just the third time since March 6 in earning just its 12th road win of the season.
Carolina, which scored an NHL-best 54 goals in March, was shut out for the first time since a 4-0 loss to Toronto on Feb. 19.
Spezza scored the game's first goal 4:46 into the second with a wrist shot from the circle that beat Ward high to his glove side. That gave Spezza 19 career goals against the Hurricanes.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes missed a prime chance earlier in the game. Dallas - and its league-worst penalty-kill unit - drew a minor midway through the first, but the Hurricanes came up empty on a 3-on-nobody rush after they caught the Stars on a line change.
NOTES:
The Hurricanes reassigned G Alex Nedeljkovic to their ECHL affiliate in Florida. Nedeljkovic was brought up Tuesday, one day after Eddie Lack was hurt at the end of an overtime loss to Detroit. ... Dallas LW Curtis McKenzie was back in Texas after a high stick he took near his eye two nights earlier at Boston caused him to bleed profusely on the ice.
The first 36 goals scored by Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Auston Matthews have done little to prepare netminders around the NHL for future scores.
Matthews made that clear while tallying his 37th of the season Saturday, streaking up ice and dishing to Leo Komarov before getting the puck back and scoring off a lightning quick wrist shot.
With his 37th in tow, Matthews temporarily moved into sole possession of fourth place in the 2016-17 goal-scoring race, trailing third-place Nikita Kucherov by just one.
The San Jose Sharks may be going to the dance, but only after stumbling through the door with as little grace required.
One year removed from their first-ever trip to the Stanley Cup Final, the Sharks look set to enter the 2017 postseason amid their worst stretch of the season, having lost eight of their past nine games.
Contributing factors can be found throughout the veteran lineup, but there's no denying the lackluster play of netminder Martin Jones isn't helping matters.
The 27-year-old has done his club few favors with his performance over the past month. After getting pulled from San Jose's Friday night loss to the Calgary Flames, Jones has now posted just one win in his past six appearances, and has allowed a total of 23 goals over that span.
Jones excelled as a steady No.1 option during his first season as a full-fledged starter last year, coming up with a .918 save percentage and six shutouts for San Jose.
He started off 2016-17 in a similar spot, posting steady numbers over the first three months of the season - including a dominant November:
Martin Jones
Save Percentage
Record
October
.916
5-3-0
November
.924
7-5-1
December
.916
7-4-0
However, things took a turn once the calendar rolled over to 2017, and Jones has been in decline ever since:
Martin Jones
Save Percentage
Record
January
.911
7-3-1
February
.908
4-0-4
March
.885
3-7-0
It's that final row that his been the most significant thorn in the Sharks' side, as the club is lacking any semblance of momentum with the playoffs fast approaching.
San Jose has gotten some decent play from backup Aaron Dell, who's played seven of the club's March tilts - as opposed to Jones' 10 - posting a far better save percentage of .921.
But Dell's play down the stretch means little for San Jose.
With the Sharks set to come up against some of the most dominant offensive names in the game - particularly league scoring leader Connor McDavid, whose Edmonton Oilers are presently slated to face San Jose in the first round - the club is going to need every bit of their No.1's talent to weave together a meaningful run.
Unfortunately, right now they're getting the opposite. This March has been by far the worst stretch of Jones' tenure in San Jose, and his performances have been getting progressively worse as the month has gone on.
There's still time for a turnaround, and there's no question Jones has the talent to backstop San Jose to another shot at the finals, but the club is quickly running out of time for him to show that ability.
And with two more dates with Calgary and Edmonton to close out the season, it's not about to get any easier.
The Calgary Flames need a new arena in order to remain in Alberta, team president Ken King told Sportsnet Fan 590 on Wednesday.
The Flames have skated at Scotiabank Saddledome since 1983, but desire a new home. In August 2015, the Flames unveiled CalgaryNEXT, a proposed $890-million development that includes new facilities for the Flames and the CFL's Stampeders.
However, the proposal does not have the support of Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi, who on Tuesday deemed the project "dead."
King believes the project "answers a myriad of questions," telling Fan 590, "Our ownership wants to leave a legacy here. They want to do something special, something valuable, and something important. They don't want to just build another building."
Earlier this month, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman met with Nenshi for discussions he characterized as "cordial and open," although he wasn't as complimentary to the Saddledome, describing the arena as "historic, but an old, antiquated building."
The rival Edmonton Oilers moved into new digs this year after 35 seasons at the team's old arena. Construction costs of the Oilers' new home, Rogers Place, were largely publicly funded, approved after Oilers owner Daryl Katz floated the possibility of the team relocating to Seattle.
According to King, similar tactics will not be used in Calgary.
"There would be no threat to move. We would just move and it would be over," King said. "If people smarter than us, in more powerful positions than ours, don't feel that we're a critical piece of the social, economic, and cultural part of our city, than who are we to argue with that?"
King later clarified to Kristen Odland of the Calgary Herald: "The truth of the matter is, we would just move. Which is not to be confused as a threat. We don't think it's fair to threaten. We think it's fair for people to decide whether or not if they want a facility … and whether or not they think it's appropriate. If they do, great. We'll participate. If they decide not to, well then we've obviously got to make some decisions about the future."
With the Detroit Red Wings moving into a new home next season, Calgary's arena will be the league's second-oldest, ahead of only Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Rangers, which underwent a $1-billion renovation in 2013.
The Flames have called Calgary home since 1980, when the franchise originally arrived in the city from Atlanta.
With an impressive 5-2 drubbing of last year's Stanley Cup runner-up Friday, the Calgary Flames booked their ticket to the 2017 playoffs.
For the organization, the return to postseason play provides some much-needed stabilization for a rebuild that looked in danger of going off the rails. But for captain Mark Giordano, it's fair to assume it meant much more.
When the Flames take the ice for Round 1 of the playoffs in just under two weeks, the 33-year-old defenseman will get his first taste of playoff action in 10 years.
That's assuming no more misfortune comes his way, of course, and Giordano's had his fair share, having missed out on Calgary's past three playoff runs.
When the Flames went on their Cinderella run through the postseason in 2015, the captain was forced to sit, stymied by a torn biceps tendon.
Prior to that, the Flames hadn't claimed a postseason berth since 2009. Giordano missed that stretch as well, watching from the press box while recovering from shoulder surgery.
And one year prior, when the Flames headed into the playoffs with then-captain Jarome Iginla in peak form - a career-best 98 points in the bag - Giordano was half the world away, playing out a one-year deal in the KHL.
The last time Giordano actually did suit up for NHL postseason action was way back in 2007 - and it wasn't the most spectacular of runs.
Calgary was ousted in six games by the Detroit Red Wings. Giordano played in only four of those tilts, registering one goal and seeing just over 12 minutes of ice per night.
In the decade that has followed, he's emerged as one of the most dynamic rearguards in the game, anchoring one of the league's most offensively potent blue lines. However, that dominance has unfortunately been confined to the regular season, as team-wide mediocrity and untimely injuries have sunk Giordano's playoff hopes time and time again.
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
But after 10 long years, the captain will finally get to prove the full weight of his worth during the grind of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's safe to say he's ready for the chance.
"In Calgary, it’s just such a great atmosphere," Giordano told the Calgary Herald earlier this month. "I’ve been around a few times hurt, and the atmosphere is the same, if not better now. I just remember being on the ice (in 2007) and you almost get the jitters at the start of games because of the atmosphere."
With his lengthy wait nearing an end, Giordano said he and the rest of the club's veterans aren't taking the opportunity for granted.
"As you get older, you realize how hard it is to get in, and you only have so many cracks left,” he said. "Guys like me and (Matt Stajan), I think we get it more. As a young guy, you’re coming in and just trying to prove yourself. But you play now to get into the playoffs and win.
"That’s the goal. That’s where our mindset is as a team and me as an individual."
