Toronto Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies tries to carry the puck past Seattle Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak at Scotiabank Arena, on Oct. 31.Dan Hamilton/Reuters
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ top two lines have done their share of the heavy lifting of late, with the reconfigured second trio accounting for 14 points during the team’s two-game winning streak, while the top unit has put up seven of its own.
But while Leaf fans are used to two-thirds of each of those units – usually referred to as the Core Four – stacking up points, it has been the sometimes-greasy contributions of the third wheels that has been key to keeping the units rolling.
Matthew Knies and Max Pacioretty may be at opposite ends of their NHL careers – separated by 13 years and more than 800 NHL games – but both are required to bring energy around the puck and in the corners to allow the likes of Auston Matthews and William Nylander to work their magic.
As might be expected on a team that has rediscovered its groove after a three-game losing string last week, their contributions haven’t gone unnoticed.
Knies in particular has flourished, scoring five goals in his past six games, and entering Saturday’s game in St. Louis against the Blues, the 22-year-old is riding a career-long three-game goal-scoring streak.
“He’s a big horse up there,” said Mitch Marner of his linemate Friday. “He’s a big fella, gets up and down the ice very quickly. … It’s not always, I don’t think the easiest to play with Auston and I, just the sporadicalness. And sometimes we go in weird spots that I think we know where each other is, but some guys can’t really figure it out. So Knies has done an unbelievable job of that this year.”
The 6-foot-3, 227-pound American power forward – like Matthews, a native of Arizona – certainly had to have his wits about him on Thursday, staying alert and keeping his stick on the ice as Matthews and Marner worked a quick tic-tac-toe play to put the puck on his stick to open the scoring against Seattle.
Matthews, at 6 foot 3 and 217 pounds, is no shrinking violet himself physically, but as the kids these days like to say, ‘game recognizes game,’ so the fellow Arizonan was more than happy to pump the tires of his linemate on Friday morning.
“He’s just so strong,” the Maple Leafs captain said. “I mean, he has such a presence down low, in front of the net so myself, Mitch, kind of working the puck around and stuff, and then he’s finding really good spots, and he’s capitalizing on some of these opportunities. So, I mean, he’s a beast, so he’s easy to play with.”
But ultimately, as William Nylander was only too quick to tell the media on Thursday before scoring twice in the 4-1 win over the Kraken, it’s not Marner or Matthews who dole out the ice time. That would be head coach Craig Berube, and while Knies doesn’t get as much as that trio of stars, he is right behind them with the fourth-most minutes among Leafs forwards this season, with an average of 17 minutes 20 seconds a game.
“I think that he just understands what type of player he is, and he’s doing it shift to shift, in my opinion, that power forward, very strong skating, direct, north, hard at the net, physical, those types of things,” Berube said. “And he knows when he creates those loose pucks for those guys to get to the net, and he’s getting rewarded from it.”
On the second line, Pacioretty is fulfilling a similar role alongside Nylander and John Tavares, registering four assists in the past two games as that trio have filled the stat sheet. But it’s not just the scoring.
At 6 foot 2 and 217 pounds, the 35-year-old former captain of the Montreal Canadiens led the way physically on Thursday night, dishing out a team-high seven hits, one more than his fellow bash brother, Knies. No one else in blue and white had more than two.
“It’s a great mix,” said Matthews of the second line since Berube rejigged it ahead of Monday’s game in Winnipeg. “I mean … Patch is physical. He can shoot the puck and makes plays, and he’s got great IQ.”
That combination of attributes has recently seen Pacioretty earn time on the Leafs’ top power-play unit, alongside Knies, Matthews, Marner and Morgan Rielly.
Heading into Saturday’s game against the Blues, with the Leafs looking for their second three-game winning streak of the season, the power play’s continued struggles might be their biggest frustration. After going 0-for-2 in Thursday’s win over Seattle, the not-so-special teams are 3-for-34 on the season (8.8 per cent), which places Toronto 31st out of 32 teams.
But as Marner explained, two games into Berube’s reshuffling of the two power-play units, it’s still very much a work in progress, and though the head coach is looking to simplify a lot of things about the team stylistically, old habits die hard.
“We’re just trying to get back to what we do successfully,” he said. “And I thought we’ve done better in the last two games with moving the puck, getting pucks more to the net, being more direct.”