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Auston Matthews answered the bell on Saturday night time.
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Hours after he was referred to as out by Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe, Matthews did nearly every little thing however rating the time beyond regulation winner towards the Boston Bruins.
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As an alternative, it was Bruins captain Brad Marchand who put yet one more one among his daggers into the Leafs, getting the deciding aim with a mere eight seconds remaining within the further interval for a 4-3 Boston win.
Matthews, who had one aim in his earlier 9 video games, had two towards the Bruins, together with the tying aim with six seconds left in regulation. That one-timer got here off a move from Mitch Marner and with goalie Joseph Woll on the bench.
This was Keefe within the morning, when requested whether or not he was seeing Matthews doing the issues he must do to get scoring possibilities:
“No,” Keefe stated. “He has to do higher in that space. Don’t concentrate on the tip consequence and get involved with something apart from doing the issues that assist you to have success individually and for us as a crew, most significantly.
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“Auston is a driver for our crew. When he’s going, we’re going. And if that occurs, whether or not he scores or not, we’re in a very good place to regulate play and have an opportunity to win the sport.”
When Matthews was on the ice, he supplied the Leafs with that likelihood.
Within the five-on-five time that the road of Matthews between Matthew Knies and William Nylander was on the ice — a complete of 13 minutes, 34 seconds — the Leafs outshot the Bruins 15-4. No easy process, contemplating the opponent. The Bruins, not less than earlier than the Vegas Golden Knights performed late on Saturday night time, moved right into a tie with the New York Rangers for first place total within the Nationwide Hockey League standings.
Matched largely towards the road of Marchand, Charlie Coyle and Danton Heinen, the Matthews trio gave up little and spent more often than not within the offensive zone.
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Matthews and Nylander every had seven pictures on aim to steer the Leafs, and each had 12 makes an attempt.
Keefe had a distinct view after the sport of Matthews, who’s tied with Florida’s Sam Reinhart for second within the NHL with 16 objectives.
“I believed he was a beast on the market,” Keefe stated. “I believed he was everywhere in the puck. He attacked the online, he shot the puck. Two big objectives for us. I believed he was wonderful.”
That unfold to the road as a complete.
“That’s a tough crew to play towards,” Keefe stated. “They don’t provide you with a lot. It’s important to earn completely every little thing. We discovered our technique to the inside of the rink towards a crew that makes it actually onerous to take action.”
Total, the Leafs’ effort and course of didn’t stray a lot. Matthews led in that regard.
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“Two aggressive groups,” Matthews stated. “They’ve been the category of the league the final two years. I like the best way we performed.
“(The loss) undoubtedly leaves a bitter style in your mouth, however (there have been) a whole lot of actually good issues we did as a crew. It’s important to take these positives and proceed to construct momentum transferring ahead.”
LOOSE LEAFS
Among the many Leafs who want to put the sport up to now as shortly as potential have been defenceman Morgan Rielly and fourth-line winger Ryan Reaves. Rielly was on the ice for all 4 Bruins objectives, together with the primary when he may need given David Pastrnak an excessive amount of of a niche earlier than the Bruins star beat Woll. On the third, Trent Frederic, a childhood pal of Woll in St. Louis, was capable of bump the puck over the road earlier than Rielly might react … The sport was a little bit of a actuality test for Reaves, who had simply eight shifts and performed simply 5:57. He had two shifts within the second interval and none after that … Knies had 5 pictures on aim and 5 hits. Defenceman Jake McCabe had a team-high seven hits for Toronto … The Leafs may have a uncommon Sunday follow earlier than taking Monday off.
tkoshan@postmedia.com
X: @koshtorontosun
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