Toronto Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews Scores In Return
By Josh Tessler
The Toronto Maple Leafs have their best player back.
In his first game back, Auston Matthews scored a goal in the second period to help the Toronto Maple Leafs prevail over the Nashville Predators.
Matthews scored a goal and took four shots in 15:18 of total ice time. He also put up an impressive 55% CF rating, dominating while on the ice at 5v5. With five minutes left in the second, Matthews showcased to the hockey world that no shoulder ailment could slow him down. Teammate, Morgan Rielly fed Matthews the puck. Matthews then fired a shot on net. The shot ricocheted off of Pekka Rinne and Matthews grabbed the rebound. After netting the rebound, Matthews was just to the right of Rinne and put a wrist shot top shelf past Rinne.
Matthews continues to showcase great offensive skills 5v5. In 54 games this season, he has registered 27 goals with the Toronto Maple Leafs at even strength. Just imagine the goal numbers Matthews could have at this point if not for a few injuries down the stretch.
Nonetheless, it’s great news for Toronto Maple Leafs fans that Matthews is back to normal and firing at all cylinders.
Leafs Power-Play Excels In Nashville
Matthews was pivotal in the win over the Nashville Predators, but he wasn’t the only one. James van Riemsdyk and Mitch Marner excelled on the power-play last night in Tennessee.
In the first period, JVR continued to blossom and picked up his 34th goal of the season. Mitch Marner set up JVR nicely and fired a pass down to JVR. At the time, JVR was on the right side of Rinne with his back turned to the net-minder. Even though JVR had has back turned, he found a new way to dazzle the show. JVR fired a no-look backhand shot past Rinne. The goal was a beautiful display. Hopefully, Lou Lamoriello was watching and saw JVR’s trick shot. With every day that passes, JVR’s monetary value continues to rise. Personally, I hope that Lamoriello can re-sign JVR before he pulls off another crazy goal.
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Later on, in the third period, Marner picked up another point on the power-play. This time he netted his own power-play goal.
Tyler Bozak won the opening period face-off and moved the puck down to Rielly. Rielly then fired a pass in the neutral zone to Marner. Marner collected the pass and deked around Predator defenseman, Roman Josi. After the deke, Marner was left wide open and fired a wrist shot past Rinne to bring the score to 4-1.
Referees Mess Up Penalty Calls
Unfortunately, the Toronto Maple Leafs did have some issues last night in Nashville. The referees charged William Nylander for a tripping call and Matthews with an interference call. Both calls should never have happened. In Nylander’s case, he didn’t trip anybody. With Matthews, Predators forward, Nick Bonino lost his balance and fell right in front of Matthews and net-minder, Frederik Andersen. The referees weren’t close in proximity to Bonino and claimed that Matthews interfered with Bonino. There shouldn’t have been any call on Matthews as he had zero contact with Bonino. Hopefully, Stephen Walkom, the Director of Officiating was watching last night’s affair and will speak to the referees about the penalties that the Toronto Maple Leafs were charged with.
Recap
After a strong showing against a tough Predators squad, the Toronto Maple Leafs travel back to Toronto to take on the Detroit Red Wings on Hockey Night In Canada.
Hopefully, the power-play unit continues to shine against the Red Wings. The Red Wings have one of the worst penalty kill units in the league. Perhaps JVR can grab some more goals on Saturday night to convince Lamoriello to keep him around for next season.
stats from NHL.com