Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs smiles after scoring a goal in the third period against the Montreal Canadiens during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on November 18, 2017 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6-0.Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
Ron Hainsey and Nazem Kadri scored 37 seconds apart in the second period and Frederik Andersen made 33 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs stretched their winning run to six games with a 6-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
Auston Matthews, with two, James van Riemsdyk and Connor Brown also scored for Toronto (14-7-0), which was coming off a 1-0 shutout of the New Jersey Devils in which Andersen made 42 saves.
Montreal (8-11-2) is winless in its last three games. After playing 10 of their first 15 games on the road, the Canadiens hoped to catch up on home ice but ended their six-game homestand at 2-3-1.
Charlie Lindgren allowed five goals (on 27 shots) for a second game in a row and was replaced at 9:39 of the third frame by Antti Niemi, who conceded a goal on four shots in his first action since he was claimed off waivers this week.
Matthews returned to the Toronto lineup after missing four games with an upper-body injury and had a good scoring chance early on. Montreal had a 16-6 shot advantage in the first frame but scoring chances were even.
Andersen had just made a smart glove save on Brendan Gallagher from the slot when the Leafs opened the scoring at 12:07. Hainsey got his first of the season with a shot from the point that Lindgren lost behind van Riemsdyk's screen.
Kadri scored on Toronto's next shot, a wrister from a bad angle that went in off Lindgren's shoulder at 12:44, to extend his points streak to six games.
Brown scored 25 seconds into the third when he lifted the rebound of Nikita Zaitsev's point shot over Lindgren from the doorstep. A Tyler Bozak pass went off Karl Alzner to van Riemsdyk, who flipped in his 10th of the season from close range at 8:11.
Only 48 seconds later, Matthews was alone in front to fire in a Mitch Marner feed. He added another, his 12th of the season, at 15:27 when he snapped a wrist shot to the top corner past Niemi.
The Leafs, who had not beaten Montreal in two years, have posted two wins in a row against the Habs for the first time since 2013. Toronto won 4-3 in overtime against Montreal on Oct. 14.
To mark the NHL's upcoming 100th anniversary, six Hall of Famers took part in the ceremonial faceoff — Dave Keon, Yvon Cournoyer, Rod Gilbert, Frank Mahovlich, Ray Bourque and Denis Savard. Mahovlich and Savard went out in a Red Wings and Blackhawks jersey respectively, but took them off to reveal Canadiens sweaters underneath. Both ended their careers in Montreal.