Auston Matthews back in control for Maple Leafs in OT loss to Bruins

Get the latest from Terry Koshan straight to your inbox

Article content

Auston Matthews answered the bell on Saturday night.

Advertisement 2

Article content

Hours after he was called out by Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe, Matthews did just about everything but score the overtime winner against the Boston Bruins.

Article content

Instead, it was Bruins captain Brad Marchand who put yet another one of his daggers into the Leafs, getting the deciding goal with a mere eight seconds remaining in the extra period for a 4-3 Boston win.

Matthews, who had one goal in his previous nine games, had two against the Bruins, including the tying goal with six seconds left in regulation. That one-timer came off a pass from Mitch Marner and with goalie Joseph Woll on the bench.

This was Keefe in the morning, when asked whether he was seeing Matthews doing the things he needs to do to get scoring chances:

“No,” Keefe said. “He has to do better in that area. Don’t focus on the end result and get concerned with anything other than doing the things that allow you to have success individually and for us as a team, most importantly. 

Article content

Advertisement 3

Article content

“Auston is a driver for our team. When he’s going, we’re going. And if that happens, whether he scores or not, we’re in a really good place to control play and have a chance to win the game.”

When Matthews was on the ice, he provided the Leafs with that chance. 

In the five-on-five time that the line of Matthews between Matthew Knies and William Nylander was on the ice — a total of 13 minutes, 34 seconds — the Leafs outshot the Bruins 15-4. No simple task, considering the opponent. The Bruins, at least before the Vegas Golden Knights played late on Saturday night, moved into a tie with the New York Rangers for first place overall in the National Hockey League standings. 

Matched mostly against the line of Marchand, Charlie Coyle and Danton Heinen, the Matthews trio gave up little and spent most of the time in the offensive zone.

Advertisement 4

Article content

Matthews and Nylander each had seven shots on goal to lead the Leafs, and both had 12 attempts. 

Keefe had a different view after the game of Matthews, who is tied with Florida’s Sam Reinhart for second in the NHL with 16 goals.

“I thought he was a beast out there,” Keefe said. “I thought he was all over the puck. He attacked the net, he shot the puck. Two huge goals for us. I thought he was excellent.”

That spread to the line as a whole.

“That’s a hard team to play against,” Keefe said. “They don’t give you much. You have to earn absolutely everything. We found our way to the interior of the rink against a team that makes it really hard to do so.”

Overall, the Leafs’ effort and process didn’t stray much. Matthews led in that regard.

Advertisement 5

Article content

“Two competitive teams,” Matthews said. “They’ve been the class of the league the last two years. I like the way we played. 

“(The loss) definitely leaves a sour taste in your mouth, but (there were) a lot of really good things we did as a team. You have to take those positives and continue to build momentum moving forward.” 

LOOSE LEAFS

Among the Leafs who would like to put the game in the past as quickly as possible were defenceman Morgan Rielly and fourth-line winger Ryan Reaves. Rielly was on the ice for all four Bruins goals, including the first when he might have given David Pastrnak too much of a gap before the Bruins star beat Woll. On the third, Trent Frederic, a childhood friend of Woll in St. Louis, was able to bump the puck over the line before Rielly could react … The game was a bit of a reality check for Reaves, who had just eight shifts and played just 5:57. He had two shifts in the second period and none after that … Knies had five shots on goal and five hits. Defenceman Jake McCabe had a team-high seven hits for Toronto … The Leafs will have a rare Sunday practice before taking Monday off.

[email protected]

X: @koshtorontosun

Article content