By Mary Walsh

TORONTO– The San Jose Sharks lost 3-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs Monday. Auston Matthews, Gavin McKenna and Nick Paul scored for the Leafs. Sergei Bobrovsky made saves for the win. Mason Marchment scored for the Sharks and Yaroslav Askarov made 29 saves in the loss.

The Leafs won the special teams contest as well as the game. This was not a surprise as Toronto has the top penalty kill in the League right now and a top power play. Aside from scoring two power play goals, they had five power play shots and three short-handed shots. The Sharks had just three power play shots. It was a disappointing shift from recent games for the Sharks. Sharks Captain Macklin Celebrini said: “We’ve had some amazing power plays this year where we’re getting a lot of chances and had really good chemistry. Just tonight was a little off.”

Mason Marchment gave the Sharks a lead at 13:54 of the first period with a backhand shot. That was the third time that Marchment scored the first goal of the game and those are his first three goals as a Shark. That has not happened since 1993.

Marchment gloved the puck down in front of the net, then moved to his left before sneaking the puck past a prone Bobrovsky. An assist went to Tyler Toffoli.

The shots in the first were even at nine each. Each team took two penalties, though the Sharks had almost a minute of five-on-three to kill.

The second period was scoreless until the final seconds. The Sharks had just taken a penalty for too many men on the ice when Auston Matthews scored with 12 seconds to go. His wrist shot came from just inside the faceoff circle. Assists went to Kirill Marchenko and Darren Raddysh.

The Sharks took two penalties in the second period and the Leafs had one. The shots were 13-10 Sharks.

Gavin McKenna gave the Leafs a 2-1 lead at 4:56 of the third period. The goal came on the power play, a wrist shot close in on the left side of the net. Assists went to Auston Matthews and William Nylander.

In the final minute, Nick Paul scored an empty net goal for Toronto. Matthews and Colton Sissons got assists on that one.

The shots were 12-9 Toronto. The teams were even in penalties called with two each, and two of those were matching minors.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday at 4:00 PM PT in Montreal against the Canadiens.