by John Tavares also scored and Mitch Marner had two assists in his 600th NHL game for the Maple Leafs (15-7-2), who have won nine of the past 11 games. Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves.
Lukas Reichel scored and Arvid Soderblom made 18 saves for the Blackhawks (8-15-2), who are 1-3-1 in their last five.
Matthews gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at 3:35 of the first period. He was only sent in by a pass from William Nylander and scored between Soderblom’s pads.
It was the sixth goal of the season and first since Oct. 31 for Matthews, who missed nine games before getting two assists in his return Saturday, a 5-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Tavares extended the lead to 2-0 at 11:59 of the second period. He turned and sent his shot off Alex Vlasic’s stick at the right faceoff spot, then off Connor Murphy’s left shoulder at the top of the goal area and over Soderblom’s glove.
Reichel cut the score to 2-1 at 3:27 of the third period when he scored a rebound at the top of the goal box.
Fraser Minten scored 21 seconds later to make it 3-1. Conor Timmins’ point shot bounced off the end boards, bounced off the side of the net and found Minten, who shot from the bottom of the right circle.
Matthew Knies scored an empty-net goal at 6:15 p.m. for the 4-1 final.
