MATTHEWS WORKS HIS MAGIC AGAIN
Toronto sniper’s two-goal outing takes the spotlight away from streaking Eichel
For all the talk in the hours before the game about the fine run Jack Eichel is enjoying, Auston Matthews might have heard enough.
Eichel, the emerging Buffalo Sabres superstar, extended his point streak to 17 games, the longest in the NHL this season, Tuesday at Scotiabank Arena.
Matthews went one better than his fellow American, scoring two goals as the Toronto Maple Leafs won for the fourth time in five games, beating the Sabres 5-3 before a gathering of 19,365.
The Leafs improved to 8-4 under Sheldon Keefe. Before Mike Babcock was fired, the
Leafs had a record of 9-10-4.
The Sabres had a strong third period, but Ilya Mikheyev scored into an empty net with 2½ minutes remaining and with Zach Hyman in the box to secure a Toronto win.
Matthews, as he is bound to do many times before his tenure with the Leafs comes to an end, etched his name in the team record book, becoming just the second player in franchise history to record at least 20 goals in each of his first four seasons, joining Dave Keon, who had at least 20 in each of his first six seasons with Toronto from 196066.
Matthews, who played a season-low 14 minutes 34 seconds in the Leafs’ win Saturday in Edmonton, beat Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark at 4:47 of the second, picking the top corner.
At 17:39, Matthews made like a peewee star, deking his way to his 21st goal and saving his last move to beat a sprawling Ullmark with a backhand.
At his morning availability, Keefe was asked whether the line of Matthews between Kasperi Kapanen and William Nylander had reached its potential.
“No, we haven’t seen that line take off here yet,” Keefe said. “We’re hoping that it can happen. It has the ability to with three very good players.
“We’ve seen with Matthews and Willie, they’ve been great for us a lot of the time since I’ve been here and since (Andreas Johnsson) has left the lineup (with a leg injury), it has been a little bit different.”
Kapanen didn’t record a point, but he need not have worried. Matthews picked up the line and the Leafs as a whole.
The two-goal game was the fifth this season for Matthews, who has not scored three goals in a game since his NHL debut, when he had four against the Ottawa Senators.
GAME ON
With the Leafs leading 3-0, Sabres defenceman Rasmus Dahlin scored on a point shot at 1:29 of the third with Leafs captain John Tavares serving a minor for holding the stick. Eichel, mostly invisible in the first two periods, had an assist … Dmytro Timashov, on a breakaway at 4:58 of the third, slipped the puck between Ullmark’s legs … Eichel scored on a rocket over Frederik Andersen’s shoulder at 6:30 and Kyle Okposo scored at 14:41 to make the Leafs’ collars a little tighter than they needed to be … Some nice symmetry on Matthews’ first goal — Morgan Rielly made the pass for his 20th assist and Mitch Marner also drew his 20th assist … After Matthews’ first goal, Ullmark made bang-bang saves on Pierre Engvall and Alex Kerfoot … The Leafs dominated for much of the first period, but the 20 minutes ended with just a 1-0 lead in favour of the home side. Frederik Gauthier scored at 2:30 when he fired the puck past Ullmark after Sabres defenceman Brandon Montour put it on Gauthier’s stick. Timashov, as he did Saturday in Edmonton when he set up Gauthier, got the play going when he carried the puck into the offensive zone. The goal was Gauthier’s fourth, establishing a career high … Of Ullmark’s 11 saves in the first, none were better than stealing a goal from Tyson Barrie, who couldn’t convert after taking a pass from Mikheyev on a 2-on-0 … It was the fifth game in a row the Leafs took a 1-0 lead. That sentence might never have been written in the Babcock era … Under Keefe, Leafs defencemen are urged to be more mobile and creative in the offensive zone and that approach nearly resulted in a goal when Barrie and Rielly played keep-away before Barrie got a shot off … Why is there a sudden debate regarding Eichel and Matthews? Eichel is a year older, so he should be further along in his overall development. Picking one over the other is foolish. Both will have great careers. Neither team will be disappointed. Anyone who claims to have a definitive answer right now of one over the other is wrong … Andersen was tested just 15 times through two periods, but had to make a bit of an unorthodox save, falling backward while managing to stop a Victor Olofsson shot … The Leafs didn’t have forward Trevor Moore back in the lineup after all. Moore took a bump at practice Monday and didn’t tell the club until Tuesday afternoon that he was not at 100 per cent.