Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (34) puts the puck past Buffalo Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark (35) during the overtime period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018, in Buffalo N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Auston Matthews scored his second goal with three seconds on the clock in overtime, and the Toronto Maple Leafs matched their best start in 84 years with a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.

The Maple Leafs won their fifth straight game and improved to 20-8. The only other time it took them just 28 games to reach 20 wins was when they opened the 1934-35 season at 20-6-2.

Patrick Marleau scored with 5:13 remaining in regulation to force overtime, and Kasperi Kapanen set up the decisive goal. Jake Gardiner also scored and Mitchell Marner had an assist to give him 11 in five games. Frederik Andersen stopped 38 shots to win his fourth straight.

Jack Eichel scored twice for Buffalo, which dropped to 0-2-2 since equaling the franchise record with a 10-game winning streak. Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, CAPITALS 3

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nate Schmidt scored twice in the final two minutes to lift Vegas over Washington in a rematch of the Stanley Cup final last spring.

It was the first time Washington skated at T-Mobile Arena since winning and hoisting the Stanley Cup in June.

Schmidt burst through the neutral zone and beat goalie Braden Holtby with a tiebreaking wrist shot with 1:24 left for his first goal of the season. The former Capital added an empty-netter moments later.

Ryan Reaves, Pierre Edouard-Bellemare and Cody Eakin also scored for the Golden Knights. Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves.

Jakub Vrana had two goals and Alex Ovechkin scored for Washington. Holtby also stopped 23 shots.

PENGUINS 6, AVALANCHE 3

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Patric Hornqvist’s natural hat trick in the third period powered Pittsburgh past Colorado.

The Avalanche had erased a three-goal deficit to tie the game going into the third when Hornqvist went to work.

His power-play goal 6:11 into the final period gave the Penguins the lead. Hornqvist beat Semyon Varlamov again 1:21 later to push Pittsburgh’s advantage to two, and the veteran from Sweden completed the hat trick on his next shift when he fired a wrist shot by Varlamov less than 90 seconds later.

Jake Guentzel, Evgeni Malkin and Derick Brassard also scored for the Penguins, who halted Colorado’s 11-game point streak. Kris Letang added two assists, and Casey DeSmith made 42 saves.

Tyson Barrie, Carl Soderberg and Matt Nieto scored for the Avalanche, who had their six-game road win streak snapped.

LIGHTNING 6, RED WINGS 5, SO

DETROIT (AP) — Nikita Kucherov and defenseman Victor Hedman scored in a shootout to give Tampa Bay a comeback win over Detroit.

The Lightning, who have won seven of eight, erased a 5-3 deficit in the third period and overcame Frans Nielsen’s hat trick.

Mathieu Joseph had two goals and an assist for Tampa Bay. Steven Stamkos, J.T. Miller and Cedric Paquette also scored.

Ryan Callahan had two assists and Edward Pasquale made 19 saves to win his NHL debut. He stopped Nielsen and Thomas Vanek in the tiebreaker.

Despite the shootout goal, Kucherov’s 10-game point streak came to an end.

Nielsen scored three times for his second career hat trick. Gustav Nyquist scored twice for the Red Wings, plus a shootout goal.

JETS 3, ISLANDERS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Jacob Trouba and Adam Lowry scored 22 seconds apart early in the third period to rally Winnipeg over New York.

Nikolaj Ehlers added an empty-net goal with 2.1 seconds left and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 27 shots as Winnipeg won for the fifth time in six games. The Jets have three straight road wins for the first time this season after completing a sweep of their three-game trip to the New York area.

Anders Lee scored for the Islanders, who have lost three of four.

PANTHERS 5, BRUINS 0

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Roberto Luongo made 33 saves in his 77th career shutout, Mike Hoffman scored twice and Florida blanked Boston.

Luongo, who returned to the lineup after missing five games with a knee injury, passed Ed Belfour and Tony Esposito for sole possession of ninth place on the NHL’s shutout list.

Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and two assists, while Mike Matheson and Evgenii Dadonov also scored. Aleksander Barkov had three assists and Keith Yandle added two.

Jaroslav Halak stopped 39 shots as the Panthers had a season-high 44 shots on goal. The Bruins lost for the third time in four games.

FLAMES 9, BLUE JACKETS 6

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Johnny Gaudreau had two goals and two assists, and Calgary scored five times in the second period to rally past Columbus.

Cam Atkinson netted a hat trick to extend his point streak to 11 games, but the Blue Jackets lost their second straight.

Sean Monahan also had two goals and two assists for Calgary, which scored five straight goals for a 6-4 lead during the second period. Monahan opened that barrage 1:55 into the second, and Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk, Noah Hanifin and TJ Brodie followed with goals. Tkachuk, Hanifin and Brodie scored in a span of 1:53.

Monahan, Gaudreau and Austin Czarnik each scored in the third period for Calgary.

David Rittich and Mike Smith combined to stop 24 shots for the Flames. Calgary earned a point in its fifth straight game to stay atop the Pacific Division and improved to 17-9-2.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 18 of 26 shots before being replaced in the third period by Joonas Korpisalo.

Zach Werenski, Josh Anderson and Nick Foligno also scored for Columbus.

CANADIENS 5, SENATORS 2

MONTREAL (AP) — Max Domi had two goals and an assist and Jonathan Drouin added a goal and two assists as Montreal defeated Ottawa.

Artturi Lehkonen and Brendan Gallagher also scored for the Canadiens, who won for the second time in eight games. Carey Price stopped 28 shots.

Mark Stone and Dylan DeMelo scored for the Senators, whose three-game winning streak was halted. Craig Anderson made 36 saves.

WILD 3, CANUCKS 2

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Jason Zucker broke a tie late in the second period and Minnesota scored on all three of its power plays, beating the staggering Vancouver Canucks to stop a three-game slide.

Ryan Suter and Zach Parise also scored for the Wild. Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves and Mikael Granlund had two assists.

Josh Leivo scored on his first shot in a Canucks uniform. Tyler Motte also had a goal for Vancouver, which has lost 12 of 13. Anders Nilsson stopped 25 shots.

COYOTES 2, KINGS 1

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nick Schmaltz had a power-play goal, Adin Hill made 25 saves for his fourth straight win and Arizona beat Los Angeles.

Lawson Crouse scored a short-handed goal for the Coyotes, undefeated since acquiring Schmaltz in a trade with Chicago on Nov. 25. Hill has stopped 84 of 86 shots since replacing an injured Antti Raanta to start the third period at Minnesota on Nov. 27.

Alec Martinez scored and Jonathan Quick made 18 saves for the Kings, held to two goals or fewer in five consecutive games.

Dustin Brown appeared to have scored the tying goal with 56.4 seconds remaining, but it was immediately waived off because his stick was over his head when he tipped the puck in.