Auston Matthews scored at 4:46 of a chaotic overtime and added three assists in regulation as the Toronto Maple Leafs erased a 3-0 deficit to defeat the Nashville Predators 5-4 on Tuesday.
Matthews buried a rebound after William Nylander took the puck to the net in the extra period to end a wild night at Scotiabank Arena.
Nylander, No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna - with his first in the NHL - John Tavares and Jack Roslovic had the other goals for Toronto (2-2-0), which got 21 saves from Anthony Stolarz.
McKenna also picked up an assist on Tavares’ goal for his first professional point. Nylander chipped in two assists and Roslovic added one.
Steven Stamkos scored twice to move into 17th place on the NHL’s all-time list for Nashville (1-1-1), while Nils Hoglander added two of his own. Juuse Saros made 33 stops. Filip Forsberg chipped in a pair of assists.
Stamkos opened the scoring at 7:13 of the first period on a power play after Stolarz made a couple of huge stops. Nashville doubled its lead at 9:08 when Hoglander collected a rebound off the end boards and slotted it home before making it 3-0 at 3:03 of the second on another tap-in.
Tavares got Toronto going off the rush at 4:56 of the middle period - McKenna picked up the primary assist - and Nylander connected on a man advantage at 6:58 to make it 3-2. Stamkos scored his second to restore a two-goal lead at 13:30, but McKenna buried his first in the NHL just 61 seconds later.
Roslovic tied things at 8:54 of the third when he went bar down on Saros to set up the late drama that included Toronto failing to connect a 3-on-0 in OT before Matthews fired past Saros for the victory.