John Tavares broke out of a scoring slump with two goals and an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the host Vancouver Canucks 4-1 Tuesday night.

Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman also scored for the Maple Leafs, and goaltender Frederik Andersen made 38 saves. Andersen has won six of his past eight starts to improve to 15-7-3. Toronto earned its second win in a row after losing three of the previous four.

Josh Leivo scored the lone goal for the Canucks, who were 3-1-0 in their previous four games.

Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom, making his first start since Dec. 1 after leaving the team to attend his father's funeral, stopped 22 of 25 shots.

Tavares, who had gone pointless in his previous three games, helped the Leafs open the scoring at 1:45 of the second period. After Justin Holl's shot from the point went wide of the right post, Tavares beat a defender to the puck behind the net and backhanded a pass to the slot, where a wide-open Matthews scored his team-leading 19th goal of the season.

Tavares made it 2-0 at 19:40 of the second, cutting across the crease and tipping home Cody Ceci's shot from the point.

The Canucks pulled within 2-1 as Leivo, who spent 5 1/2 seasons with Toronto, scored off a goalmouth scramble at 11:14 of the third. Tanner Pearson and Bo Horvat were credited with assists.

Tavares restored the two-goal margin at 14:48. He gained control of the puck behind the net after a battle along the end boards and cycled the puck back to the left point. Tavares circled around the top of the slot to the right faceoff circle, took a pass from Holl and snapped a shot past Markstrom.

Hyman added an empty-net goal at 18:16 to cap the scoring, tapping home the puck after a Vancouver turnover behind the net. It was Hyman's fourth goal in the past three games.

Canucks forward J.T. Miller had his career-high eight-game point streak snapped (five goals, six assists).

--Field Level Media