Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies regain their touch in wild Leafs win over Ottawa

Smart move if you bought someone an Auston Matthews sweater for Christmas, knowing his first post-break game was against Ottawa.

Ditto for Matthew Knies if you figured he was due to break out.

Now on different lines and separate power-play units, they combined for three goals (two by Knies) and six points in Saturday’s spirited 7-5 win over the Ottawa Senators, the first Battle of Ontario of this season underlining how close the Atlantic Division standings are.

The downside for the Leafs was losing leading scorer William Nylander early in the second period with a lower body injury of undetermined severity.

In a night of crazy swings at Scotiabank Arena, Toronto had a single-period season high of 20 shots in scoring three, but did little in the third. The Sens ate into a couple of multiple goal leads before Knies’ second of the game gave them a 6-4 cushion early in the third and held up as the winner. His first goal, on a first-period power play, was his first since Dec. 4. Nylander, Bobby McMann, Nick Robertson and John Tavares (empty-netter) also scored for the Leafs. Max Domi earned three assists.

It’s a good bet there’s some holiday magic in No. 34 when the Senators are concerned for Matthews, whose his two goals and assist gave him 51 points in 36 career games against Ottawa. He debuted with four-goal against the Sens in 2016 and is now four away from tying Mats Sundin for the franchise record of 420.

The weeks-long tinkering with the power play, following the firing of assistant Marc Savard and promotion of Steve Sullivan the past few days to help Derek Lalonde had the stunning success of two goals in its first two tries against the league’s second worst penalty-killers.

Matias Maccelli, now a fixture on the first unit, overcame an awkward entry to set up Matthews, whose quick backhand found Nylander in front. That was 40 seconds after puck drop and followed up by the second group’s conversion. Knies, taken off the top squad, drilled home Domi’s one-time pass.

Berube has emphasized that Sullivan’s arrival won’t rescue the power play on his own.

“We all knew Sully coming in from his work with the (AHL) Marlies,” Berube said. “It’s a new voice (for) some different set-ups. We don’t need to complicate anything right now, we need to get some feel back on the power play, get some chemistry going with some units we have.”

Ottawa got one back before the period ended on a puck that hit Nick Cousins’ skate as he drove the net, transferring it to his stick and past Joseph Woll.

Following a narrow escape from a Robertson giveaway at the side of Woll’s net, the Leafs put two more past Linus Ullmark to chase him from the game on 14 shots. Domi and Matthews kept a puck alive for linemate Bobby McMann to tap it in.

Tim Stutzle, Jordan Spence and Drake Batherson all struck in the third for Ottawa, which trailed 5-2 entering the frame and twice pulled to within one of tying.

“We’ve talked about what we need to do and it’ll be good to get right into it.” defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said before the game with Toronto second last in the conference with another divisional game against Detroit on Sunday.

It was newcomer winger Dakota Joshua’s first exposure to the provincial rivalry, re-ignited last spring when Toronto beat the Sens in six games in the opening round playoff series.

“We have to have that desperation you’d need if this was the last two games of the season,” Joshua said pre-game.

On changing the defence the past couple of games with Chris Tanev’s return from injury, restored with Jake McCabe , Berube noted he now has right and left shooting pairs through the starting lineup.

“We wanted to get that (McCabe-Tanev) familiarity back,” Berube said. “They’ve been a great pair for a long time and (Troy) Stecher has played well (warranting a stay ahead of Simon Benoit as Ekman-Larsson’s partner).

Ottawa, which flew in Saturday morning to stretch their holiday break under NHL travel rules, had won five of its last seven games and its last four losses were all by only a goal. The Sens want to finish ahead of Toronto in the Atlantic Division for the first time since 2016-17.

Lhornby@postmedia.com

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