A better shade of blue

Matthews scores 49th goal as balanced offence lifts Leafs in St. Louis

- KEVIN MCGRAN

Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov, seen stopping Blues forward Jordan Kyrou in the first period, saved 19 of 21 shots for his fourth win in a row and seventh in eight starts.

It’s not that the Maple Leafs are unbeatable, it’s just they don’t lose often anymore.

And it’s not just because of Auston Matthews’ goal-scoring heroics, though he got his 49th on Monday afternoon, and his seventh in his last three games, as the Leafs opened a four-game road trip by beating the St. Louis Blues 4-2 at the Enterprise Center.

“All in all it was a good road game for us,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We did enough things to win and we played a smart game that minimized any sort of chances or damage that they could inflict on us.”

The Leafs have won four in a row, and nine of their last 12 games, as they seem to have found a mix that works.

William Nylander scored shorthanded and, perhaps more importantly, Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann also scored. Goals from anyone not in the Core Four were hard to come by until recently, and now Knies and McMann are coming to the fore. McMann has six goals in his last four games and though the scoresheet will show Monday’s goal was an empty-netter, it was anything but easy. He chased down St. Louis defenceman Torey Krug, outmuscled him for the puck and spun around in one motion to score the game-clincher.

“Bobby has been generating lots of momentum, not just because of the way he’s been scoring,” Keefe said. “Just the way he’s skating, the confidence he’s playing with. I thought he used his speed and his strength on the puck.”