TORONTO (AP) — Auston Matthews scored his first goal since returning from injury as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Monday night.

John Tavares, Fraser Minten and Matthew Knies provided the rest of Toronto’s offense in the empty net. Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves. Mitch Marner recorded two assists in his 600th regular season game.

Lukas Reichel scored for Chicago, which has suffered three straight losses. Arvid Soderblom stopped 18 shots.

Matthews missed nine games with an upper-body injury before picking up two assists in his return to the lineup Saturday in a 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The 27-year-old center scored first in the first period before Tavares doubled Toronto’s lead with a deflected shot in the second period. Reichel increased the score to 2-1 at the start of the third period, but 21 seconds later Minten restored the home side’s two-goal lead.

Takeaways

Leafs: Jake McCabe sat out after taking a puck to the head on Saturday. The defender stood on the sidelines alongside forwards Max Pacioretty, Max Domi, Bobby McMann, David Kampf and Calle Jarnkrok. Fellow blueliner Jani Hakanpaa was placed on injured reserve Monday with a lower-body injury.

Blackhawks: Connor Bedard, the top pick in the 2023 draft, was coming off a 12-game losing streak with goals in two of his last three contests.

Key moment

Matthews, who led the NHL with 69 goals last season, beat Soderblom by five for the sixth time this season on a nifty shot from William Nylander.

Key statistics

The Leafs had the second-best point percentage in the league in November (8-3-1, .708). Toronto also allowed the fewest goals against in that 12-game span – 27, including just 15 at 5-on-5.

Next

The Blackhawks begin Wednesday with a two-game homestand against the Bruins, while the Maple Leafs host the Predators the same evening.

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