Tavares nets 501st goal as Maple Leafs beat Utah Mammoth 5-3

John Tavares scored his 501st career goal midway through the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Utah Mammoth 5-3 on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena, handing Utah its second game in as many nights on the road. The victory gave Toronto its third straight win and its first three-game streak of the season.

Tavares, who was honored before the game for reaching 500 career goals last week, broke a 2-2 tie when he finished off a pass from Bobby McMann with a backhand upstairs on goaltender Vitek Vanecek. Matias Maccelli, facing his former team, added an insurance goal and finished with a goal and an assist. William Nylander and Auston Matthews also scored for Toronto, and Matthew Knies added an empty-netter. Anthony Stolarz made 21 saves for the Leafs; Vanecek stopped 14 for the Mammoth.

Utah opened the scoring on Michael Carcone’s first-period goal. Nylander and Matthews answered with second-period goals for Toronto, then Mikhail Sergachev tied it late in the middle frame for Utah. Tavares’ third-period strike provided the go-ahead tally, and Maccelli’s goal sealed the win. Jake McCabe registered two assists for Toronto, and both Tavares and Nylander finished with...