The Toronto Maple Leafs opened their season with a succesful victory over the archrival Montreal Canadiens. You can't ask for much more than that. But, for them to continue this success, Auston Matthews needs to do something so much more.
During the eventual 5-2 win, there were signs of offensive cohesiveness and it largely seemed to be coming from the blue line. Morgan Rielly was everywhere and ended up leading the Leafs in shots on goal with five, shot attempts with nine, and was even tied for the team-lead in high-danger attempts with two. The veteran defenseman was omnipresent in Scotiabank Arena, but if anyone is the main hub for the team's offense, it should be Matthews.
In comparison to Rielly, Matthews did have a decent contribution. He ended the game with four shot attempts, which was tied for second, and while his one single shot on goal doesn't look great, he did generate 0.91 expected goals according to Natural Stat Trick. That amount of expected results was second on the team -- only William Nylander's 0.94 ixG was higher.
Four shot attempts in a game where the only player that had more was Rielly, seems fine for any normal top-six forward, but that's not Matthews. Just last season, the Leafs captain averaged 7.16 attempts per game. And the year before that, when he scored his 69 goals, it was even higher at 8.56 attempts per game.
For Matthews to walk away from the season opener with virtually half of his average throughout recent seasons, feels like a misstep. Especially considering just how much of him this team should now depend onto generate offense and eventually win some more hockey games.
This isn't a nightmare scenario or even a trend that lasted beyond 60 minutes of the very first game of the season -- but it has the potential to be something to keep a serious eye on. If it continues, we then have to wonder if he will miss Mitch Marner on his wing, setting up scoring chances for him, even more than we expected.
And against Montreal of all teams, too? Just be a little selfish, a little hungrier, and we're sure that this extremely minor concern will wash away almost immediately.