NHL roundup: Auston Matthews stars in return, Maple Leafs beat Sharks 5-3

TORONTO – 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 and match Buffalo for the NHL lead with 36 points. Frederik Andersen made 38 saves.

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.

Avalanche 6, Penguins 3

DENVER – Gabe Landeskog broke a tie midway through the third period and Colorado overcame Sidney Crosby’s natural hat trick to beat Pittsburgh.

Colorado won its sixth straight and is 8-0-1 in its last nine.

Nathan MacKinnon had three assists and an empty-net goal with 29 seconds left, his 18th goal of the season. Samuel Girard, Erik Johnson and Colin Wilson also scored for Colorado.

Crosby erased a 3-0 deficit by himself. He struck twice in the final minute of the second period. His first came off his own rebound on a breakaway with 52 seconds to go, and struck again with 10 seconds left with Colorado defenseman Patrik Nemeth off for holding. Crosby tied it at 4:43 of the second to complete his first hat trick of the season. He has 13 goals.

Red Wings 4, Blues 3

DETROIT – 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.

Stars 4, Flames 3 (OT)

CALGARY, Alberta – Tyler Seguin scored 24 seconds into overtime to lift Dallas past Calgary.

Jamie Benn knocked the puck into the slot, where Seguin was wide open and put a shot inside the goal post on David Rittich. The goalie argued he had been interfered with by Benn, but the goal stood up after a video review.

Seguin also had an assist, and Benn, Jason Spezza, and Gavin Bayreuther added goals to help Dallas snap a four-game road winless streak. Khudobin made 30 saves. Garnet Hathaway, Johnny Gaudreau and Mark Giordano scored for Calgary.

Ducks 3, Panthers 2

SUNRISE, Fla. – 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.