Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews (34) flies through the air after colliding with Winnipeg Jets' Mark Scheifele, not shown, in front of Patrik Laine (29) during second period NHL hockey action in Winnipeg, on Oct. 24, 2018.Trevor Hagan/The Canadian Press
The goal drought is now at four games, so is it time for serious hand-wringing about Auston Matthews?
Matthews, who scored 10 goals in six games to start the NHL season before going quiet in the next four, doesn’t think so.
“Last game, I liked our game,” the Toronto Maple Leafs centre said Friday, referring to Wednesday’s 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets. The Leafs play host to the rematch Saturday night. “We had a lot of chances. Kappy buried that one to get us going. But even for myself and Kappy and Patty, we’re getting chances. We just have to capitalize on them.”
Kappy is right winger Kasperi Kapanen, who scored the first goal of the game for the Leafs. He’s done the bulk of the scoring for the line of late with three goals in the past four games. Patty is Patrick Marleau, the left winger on the line, who has one goal in the same period.
Matthews, who had two assists in those four games, still leads the Leafs in points with 16 and had a share of the NHL lead before Friday night’s games. However, there is the matter of Matthews’s minus-1 rating compared with healthy plus ratings for the next seven players among the league’s scoring leaders. And Matthews and his linemates collectively have one takeaway in their past four games, although they can boast of no giveaways.
When Leafs head coach Mike Babcock was asked how he thought Matthews and Marleau were working together so far, he said he was happy with most games but acknowledged “a few games, they weren’t as good.”
While Matthews said that he doesn’t think opposing teams have changed tactics against him and his linemates in the past few games, Babcock would like to see the trio change its approach. Teams have made it tougher for Matthews and company to attack their blueline with speed.
“We’re challenging them to cycle the puck more, spend more time in the [offensive] zone; less time rush, more time o-zone,” Babcock said. “That’s because your rush goes away as the year goes on.
“I think those guys are working hard. They had a real good game last time. They had a real heavy shift when Kappy scored his goal to get us going. I thought that was an important one and they were good defensively.”
Matthews acknowledges things can get better since this is the first season the three of them have played together. Zach Hyman, Matthews’ left winger for his first two seasons, was moved to John Tavares’s line, and William Nylander remains in limbo because of a contract dispute. But the line is spending time in the video room as well as on the ice in an attempt to remedy things.
“Yeah, there’s always room to improve,” Matthews said. “It’s better for us to get together, watch video, talk about different stuff, whether it’s on or off the ice and just get a feel for each other more and more. We want to be dominant every night and every shift. We expect a lot from ourselves.”
One thing that is clear is Matthews will not be getting any extra ice time to get his scoring back in gear. He and Tavares are given between 17 and 19 minutes on the ice per game so far, with third centre Nazem Kadri a minute or so behind.
That may be a far cry from the 22-plus minutes Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid is getting, with a high of 28:26 this week against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but none of the Leaf centres are envious.
“Yeah, that’s absolute insanity,” Kadri said. “I don’t know how the kid has the stamina for that. He’s just a different breed, so I think he can handle it for now. As the year goes on, for a forward to keep pace with that is a lot to ask for.”
Babcock, who declined to be drawn into any comments on McDavid’s ice time, says the way the minutes are shared with the Leaf centres is simply part of the plan.
“The way I look at it, I want [Matthews] and [Tavares] to be between 18 and 20 [minutes], I want them 26 shifts a night,” the coach said. “You can get way more minutes and play less shifts, just play longer shifts. I don’t want that. I like [Kadri] in the 16, 17 range. That’s what we like to play because we want to play as high a tempo as we can.”