TORONTO (AP) — Auston Matthews had two goals and an assist in his return from a left shoulder injury that sidelined him a month and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the San Jose Sharks 5-3 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory.
John Tavares also scored twice, former San Jose star Patrick Marleau added a goal, Mitch Marner had three assists, and Andreas Johnsson finished with two assists to help Toronto improve to 18-8-0. Frederik Andersen made 37 saves to improve to 8-2-0 over his last 10 starts.
Tomas Hertl, Joe Pavelski and Melker Karlsson scored for San Jose, Logan Couture had two assists and Aaron Dell made 24 saves.
Matthews sat out 14 games after taking a clean hit from Winnipeg's Jacob Trouba on Oct. 27. The 21-year-old center had 10 goals and six assists in the first seven games of the season, but was held off the scoresheet in three consecutive outings before getting hurt. He made an almost immediate impact against San Jose, taking a pass from Marner and finding Tavares at the edge of the crease on a power play at 3:38.
The 39-year-old Marleau, who played 19 seasons with the Sharks, scored against San Jose for the first time, giving him at least one goal against all 31 NHL franchises.
RED WINGS 4, BLUES 3
DETROIT (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi broke a tie with 6:53 to go with his second goal of the game and Detroit held on to beat St. Louis after blowing a 3-0 lead.
Bertuzzi put in a loose puck from just outside the crease for his eighth goal of the season.
Thomas Vanek had a goal and an assist, Andreas Athanasiou also scored, defenseman Mike Green had two assists and Jimmy Howard made 33 saves to help Detroit snap a three-game losing streak.
David Perron scored twice for St. Louis, Vladimir Tarasenko added a goal and Jake Allen stopped 27 shots. The Blues have lost five of their last six.
DUCKS 3, PANTHERS 2
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Nick Ritchie broke a tie with 1:28 left with his second goal of the game, John Gibson made 42 saves and Anaheim beat Florida.
Ritchie grabbed a loose puck in front and beat goalie James Reimer to the right side.
Josh Manson also scored to help the Ducks win for the fourth time in five games. Evgenii Dadonov and Aaron Ekblad scored for Florida, Jonathan Huberdeau had two assists, and Reimer made 22 saves.
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