The Toronto Maple Leafs have had themselves quite the weekend. Picking up two solid wins against divisional opponents in back-to-back fashion. Toronto is now on a three-game winning streak, including its wins against the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens on the Hockey Hall of Fame weekend. It’s no secret that the Maple Leafs have been playing great hockey as of late. However, it’s a little shocking that they are playing this well without their franchise player and captain, Auston Matthews. Not only have they prevailed without the three-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner, but the Leafs are thriving. The team has been stepping up as a whole, but also individually.
Leafs Stepping Up in Absence of Matthews
With the Maple Leafs missing a player who has been their leading scorer for the past five seasons, one would and should think there would be a rocky road ahead for Toronto. However, it’s been the contrary for Craig Berube‘s club so far. Toronto has been a perfect three-for-three with Matthews sidelined. Furthermore, the Maple Leafs are 38-19-2 when Matthews is out of the lineup. This goes to show the amount of depth the Leafs have and that they don’t throw all their eggs in one player’s basket. Toronto has showcased great team efforts in their latest team victories during the absence of their captain. However, some players deserve some credit as they’ve stepped up when needed.
The stars of the show remained at centre stage throughout this three-game homestand. Between Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares, in the last three games they’ve put up 14 points. In the process, Nylander has become the joint top-scorer in the NHL with 11 goals in 16 games. Also, Marner has extended his point streak to eight straight games.
Although it hasn’t just been the stars putting in the work, many others have made an impression. Morgan Rielly has been very impressive lately with his ability to provide offensive support. However, his contributions have been noticeable way before Matthews’ injury. In his last nine games, he was involved in 10 goals, putting three in the net himself. Rielly has been excellent on both ends of the ice and if this continues he could be throwing his name in the hat of defencemen to represent Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
A part of that defence and protection group, Anthony Stolarz continues to be one of the best goaltenders in the league. He recorded a shutout against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday and another solid performance on Friday versus the Wings. In that game on Friday, Stolarz did something that many could say they’ve never seen before. In a scrum in his goal-crease, he picked up the puck with his bare hand after losing his glove. It’s become quite a popular moment with Leafs fans, as it should. He’s another Leaf who might have a case when it gets to the point of team selections for the tournament in February.
Asking the Tough Questions
During this Matthews-less run, Toronto seemed to have solved their power play issues. Since the start of November, no one has more power-play goals than the Toronto Maple Leafs. This is outstanding because about four games before Saturday’s game, the Leafs had the worst PP percentage in the league at 8%. Now, they are over 20% and sit in the top half of the league in terms of power play percentage. Doing all this in the absence of arguably Toronto’s best player sparks a question. What does Berube do when Matthews returns?
It may seem silly to consider leaving the previous 69-goal scorer off the top power-play unit. However, there is a justifiable case in this situation. Marc Savard and the Maple Leafs could not get the power play going for whatever reason and it looked hopeless. But, in their 2-1 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild, they converted on the man advantage. It should be noted that Matthews did play in that game. However, since then he came out of the lineup and that’s when things clicked for Toronto’s special teams. In their last 12 attempts, the Leafs scored eight times with the extra man. Therefore, it will be interesting to see what happens with Matthews. The coach won’t want to not put the league’s best goalscorer over the boards. However, he’ll also want to refrain from ruining what’s been working.
Main Photo Credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
