Ekman-Larsson had a goal and two assists, Bobby McMann and Matthews scored, and Morgan Rielly had two assists for the Maple Leafs (24-16-8), who have points in 12 of 13 (9-1-3). Dennis Hildeby made 27 saves.
“[Hildeby] was unreal,” McMann said. “A couple scramble saves, desperation. He was no quit tonight. He was all over it. Really nice to see from him, and he’s consistently giving us a chance to win games here.”
Kyle Connor, Alex Iafallo, and Nino Niederreiter scored for the Jets (19-22-6), who had a four-game winning streak end. Vladislav Namestnikov had two assists, and Hellebuyck made 33 saves.
“It is exactly what we have to do, we have to continue to find ways but also find ways to get that second point,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “At the end of the day, when you are trying to catch teams above you, you have to do it every night, there has got to be points… That is a game we should have finished off.”
Ekman-Larsson made it 3-2 at 5:58 of the third period when he took a cross-ice pass from Nicholas Robertson and buried a snap shot far side from the left face-off circle.
“[Ekman-Larsson] does it all for us every night,” Matthews said. “He kills, he runs the power play. He plays big minutes, he plays against top lines. He had a huge night for us. I was glad to see that goal, and then that sifter that Bobby [McMann] tipped, and then like I said, breaking up that fourth one to give us an opportunity to go down on an odd-man rush. He was unbelievable tonight.”
McMann tied it 3-3 at 15:33 of the third when he redirected Ekman-Larsson’s point shot through traffic.
“I thought (Winnipeg) had a lot of chances in the first,” Ekman-Larsson said. “We kind of stuck with it and battled through and got some looks there at the end. It’s a really good team effort on that one.”
