Auston Matthews scores 41st goal of the season in a 5-4 win against the Dallas Stars, 2/7/24

February 07, 2024

Auston Matthews scores 41st goal of the season in a 5-4 win against the Dallas Stars, 2/7/24

y'all know what the caption is gonna be pic.twitter.com/ET2sKaKHA4
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 8, 2024

*Sorry for the lack of photos! Hoping to get permission eventually.*

The Dallas Stars' 4-game win streak was put to an end on Wednesday, February 7th. The Stars played against the Maple Leafs in Toronto at the Scotiabank Arena... The Maple Leafs got a 5-4 win after an unfortunate loss the night before against the New York Islanders.

Stars lineup against the Maple Leafs:

Robertson - Hintz - Johnston

Marchment - Duchene - Seguin

Benn - Steel - Pavelski

Dellandrea - Faksa - Dadonov

Harley - Heiskanen

Suter - Hanley

Lindell - Hakanpaa

Wedgewood

Oettinger

Maple Leafs lineup against the Stars:

Knies - Matthews - Marner

Bertuzzi - Tavares - Nylander

Gregor - Domi - Robertson

McMann - Holmberg - Reaves

Rielly - Brodie

Benoit - McCabe

Giordano - Liljegren

Samsonov

Jones

William Nylander got the Maple Leafs in a 1-0 lead at 6:34 in the first frame. Nylander scored a one-timer on the power play from a pass by Morgan Rielly from the top of the left circle. Jamie Benn tied up the game 1-1 later into the first period with a one-timer on the power play. Joe Pavelski passed the puck from the goal line to the right of the net, to Benn to get the game tied up. Evgenii Dadonov got Dallas in a 2-1 lead with 2:37 remaining in the first period. Dadonov carried the puck into the offensive zone and cut into the slot to beat Ilya Samsonov five-hole.

Tying it back up 2-2 early into the middle frame - John Tavares scores his 15th goal of the season. Tavares scored a one-timer with a pass from William Nylander in the slot. Auston Matthews strikes his 41st goal of the season on the power play. Matthews stole the puck alongside the boards and skated towards the net, then shot from the bottom left of the left circle. Matthews currently has 27 goals from his past 27 games... leading the NHL with the most goals in the season, 41 in 48 games.

Evgenii Dadonov with his second goal of the night, tied the game back up 3-3. He scored on a penalty shot... Just 32 seconds later, Mitch Marner takes back the lead for Toronto. Auston Matthews passed the puck to Marner and he shot the puck high glove from the bottom of the right face-off circle. Only 20 seconds later after Marner's goal, William Nylander scored his second goal of the night. Nylander took a pass from John Tavares and shot blocker side from the left face-off dot. Wyatt Johnston gets one more goal for Dallas at 1:25 of the third period... He shot the puck past Ilya Samsonov's glove from the top of the left face-off circle.

Auston Matthews on the Maple Leafs' 5-4 win over Dallas: "That's a really good team on the other side - It was obviously good to see us make good on some of those opportunities... It's nice to get the two points."

Mitch Marner on the Maple Leafs' 5-4 win: "It was ugly at first, but we knew we needed to turn around - I think our kill came up big when it needed to there at the end as well. We knew we needed a lot more effort on 5-on-5 and I thought we did that starting in the second period."

Wyatt Johnston on the Stars' 5-4 loss against the Maple Leafs: "I think we all know we had it in us to get the win tonight. I think just the execution of playing a team with great offensive players, you got to be really good in all areas of the ice."