The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning (again) on Monday night.
The Toronto Maple Leafs didn't just beat up on a division rival, cement their place in the standings a bit more, and get a star making performance from Joseph Woll, but Auston Matthews gave notice that he is back.
After being screwed out of a second-career Hart Trophy last year (he scored 69 times) Matthews has gotten off to an injury-related slow *by his standards* start to the year.
But last night, he dominated. He scored a goal and added an assist, but it was the wrap-around "Michigan Move" that really stood out *(understatement of the year), even if he didn't actually score. The Leafs absolutely dominated last night when Matthews was on the ice, scoring twice, having the puck 63% of the time, and posting an insane 69% Expected Goals Rating (naturalstattrick.com).
The Toronto Maple Leafs Win, But Oh My Gawd! Did You See That Play?
Auston Matthews now has five goals in his last four games, and nine in his last ten. He is now just 14 goals behind Leon Draisaitl and gaining fast.
As for the rest of the game, Mitch Marner had three points as he continues to climb the points leaderboard, and is now only seven points off the lead. The most impressive thing about Marner's run at the Art Ross is that he's done it despite the Leafs garbage power-play and Auston Matthews missing 15 games.
Simon Benoit deserves recognition for a great game last night. He's been scratched for three straight and has been terrible all season long. Not last night though.
Weirdly I thought last night was a great night for OEL, Timmins and Benoit and that Rielly, Tanev and McCabe were not as good as usual.
The Leafs won five in a row to close out last year, then they lost three in a row, and now they have won three in a row. This is a streaky team. They play a lot of close games because their system and blue-line is bad and they dump and chase too much. When they win, they do so because their superstars outscore the stats, and when they lose it's because that won't happen every game.
Auston Matthews and a hot goalie (even a pretty good goalie) will get you far. Unfortunately, as we have seen in the past, just hoping that that happens in the playoffs at the exact right time is a fool's game. The Leafs need a better roster, and they need better coaching.
But for now, it doesn't matter. When Matthews and Marner play like they did last night, and when the goalie backs it up, they're unbeatable.