Auston Matthews Returns, Toronto Maple Leafs Defeat Sharks

With their future captain returning to the lineup, the Toronto Maple Leafs look as dangerous as ever.

After missing 14 games with a shoulder injury, Auston Matthews returned and picked up right where he left off, scoring two goals and an assist, leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks (12-9-5) at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday night. The win gave the Leafs the season sweep over the Sharks, whom they defeated by the same score on November 15th.

The Maple Leafs are now 18-8-0, putting them in a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division with the Buffalo Sabres (36 points). This was the Leafs’ third straight win (Outscoring opponents 15-5 in that time) and their sixth consecutive win at home (Outscoring opponents 28-9 during that streak).

Four players had a multi-point game for the Maple Leafs and Frederik Andersen made 38 saves on 41 shots, his 13th 30-plus save performance this season. It was a night where the power play returned to form and the Leafs’ offense made up for any lapses on the defensive front.

Baby Shark Defense

If there are four words that strike fear into the hearts of teams around the NHL, WWE superstar and scary Maple Leafs fan Luke Harper may have found them…

Matthews and Mitch Marner assisted on a gorgeous tic-tac-toe power play goal by John Tavares in the first period to set the tone for the rest of the game. That tone was: Don’t let the Maple Leafs have the puck in the offensive zone.

Marner had a three assist game, with two of them coming on the power play, bringing his point total to 36. He now has 30 assists this year, becoming the second Maple Leaf to record 30 assists in 26 games. Patrick Marleau scored his sixth goal of the year on the power play, his third straight game with a point and making him the 25th player in NHL history to score a goal against every team in the league.

John Tavares scored two goals, putting him at 17 on the year and 11 goals shy of his 300th career goal. And Andreas Johnsson tallied two assists in his second multi point performance in three games.

But on this night, all eyes were on #34.

The King Has Returned

Apparently Auston Matthews wasn’t told that the Sharks were an actual NHL team, because he dominated them like they were a rec league team from Arizona. Matthews was on the ice for less than 15 minutes, and he scored two goals and an assist, with his first goal of the game being his 150th career point. He had five shots and the highest relative Corsi on the team with 35.9%. I know I shouldn’t sound surprised, but any time Matthews is on the ice he continues to amaze me.

Elsewhere In Leafs Nation

Matthews clearly had an effect on the power play, which had its best game in some time, going three for four on the night. The Leafs’ PK may not have had a great night (One for three with both Sharks PP goals coming from blown coverage somewhere in the defensive zone), but it was a small negative compared to everything else.

On defense, Ron Hainsey led all Maple Leafs defensemen with 21:45 minutes of ice time, just eight seconds ahead of Morgan Rielly. Hainsey also had the lowest relative Corsi among defensemen, posting -30.7%, far behind Rielly, who was second worst on defense with a -11.7% relative Corsi.

Also, props are in order for equipment manager Bobby Hastings, who was quick on the draw to get Marner a new stick to him while he was streaking into the offensive zone. Marner immediately used this stick on the rush to assist on the Maple Leafs’ third goal of the game.

And, as of this writing, we are now just two days away from the 5:00 PM deadline for the Toronto Maple Leafs to sign restricted free agent William Nylander.

Scotiabank Arena will be empty for the next week as the Toronto Maple Leafs head out for a two game trip, starting on Saturday night when the face the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center.