Matthews doesn’t miss a beat
Nothing too fancy or cute.
On Wednesday morning, that was how Auston Matthews described how he figured he would play in his first game in more than a month.
Later in the day, Matthews didn’t back up his words.
A 14-game absence didn’t appear to deter the Toronto superstar to any great degree, as he scored two goals and had an assist in the Maple Leafs’ sixth home win in a row, a 5-3 decision over the San Jose Sharks at Scotiabank Arena.
Matthews, who suffered a left shoulder injury in a game against Winnipeg on Oct. 27, fired a shot over the blocker of Sharks goalie Aaron Dell in the first period on a Toronto power play, this after Matthews set up John Tavares for a power-play goal before the game was four minutes old.
As the story has been written for the Leafs for much of the 2018-19 season, the victory was the result of the work of several sources.
The magical Mitch Marner had three assists, tying his career high — and a mark he has reached 10 times.
Tavares scored two goals, giving him 17. Goaltender Frederik Andersen made 38 saves.
The Leafs, as a whole, improved to 18-8-0. Their 36 points are tied for the most in the National Hockey League with the Buffalo Sabres.
Matthews has 12 goals in 12 games.
Leafs coach Mike Babcock wouldn’t say after the Leafs’ optional morning skate whether he would put Matthews back between old linemates Patrick Marleau and Kasperi Kapanen. As it turned out, he did not.
Matthews centred Andreas Johnsson and Kapanen, while Marleau skated with Nazem Kadri and Connor Brown.
With Frédérik Gauthier a healthy scratch, Par Lindholm was between Tyler Ennis and Josh Leivo on the fourth line.
Tavares stayed as the centre with Marner and Zach Hyman.
Of the three Leafs goals in the first period, the third, by Tavares at 19:42, might have been the prettiest.
After breaking his stick in the defensive zone, Marner raced past the bench, grabbed a new one from alert assistant equipment manager Bobby Hastings and with the help of Hyman, set up Tavares for a tap-in. As the Leafs celebrated, Marner pointed back at the bench in appreciation.
Each club scored once in the second period as Toronto took a 4-2 lead into the second intermission.
Toronto’s goal came early, with the second power-play unit reminding the crowd of 19,362 that it can be as capable as the top unit.
Johnsson made a fine play in front of the net, getting the puck to Marleau, who wired a shot past Dell. It was career goal No. 541 for Marleau, and also his first against his former team. With the goal, Marleau has scored against all 31 NHL clubs.
San Jose answered less than three minutes later when Joe Pavelski finished during a Sharks power play at 4:18.
Tomas Hertl scored the Sharks goal in the first period. Melker Karlsson scored with two minutes remaining.
Each time Matthews has returned from an injury — four times since the start of last season — he has scored at least one goal.
What was Matthews anticipating in drawing on from his experiences last year in similar situations?
“Keeping things simple, not getting too far ahead of myself,” Matthews said. “I have not played in a game in over a month, so you still have to find your game, get your legs back under you, pace of playing, timing, I think that just comes back over time.
“Especially that first period, just try to keep things simple and not be too fancy or cute.”
Good one, Auston. Good one.
ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO
Matthews is back.
Will we be saying the same about William Nylander at some point in the coming days, if not on Saturday?
Matthews is among the Leafs keeping his fingers crossed.
“We hope to get him back, of course,” Matthews said before the Leafs beat the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night. “He is a big part of this team and the clock is kind of ticking.
“Hopefully, that gets resolved because everybody wants him here. Us as players and knowing him, he wants to be here too.”
The Leafs and the restricted free agent are said to be just a few hundred thousand dollars apart (per year) in contract negotiations, as Leafs Nation holds its breath with deadline to sign Nylander looming at 5 p.m. on Saturday. If there is no deal by then, Nylander can’t play in the NHL this season. And there has been no indication the Leafs would rather trade Nylander than keep him.
Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock has been beating the Nylander for the drum for the past week, steadfast in his conviction that the Leafs will have the 22-year-old in uniform soon.
“Willie is a good player, he is in good shape, he has great edges and can skate,” Babcock said. “I just believe Willie likes it here. We love him here and he is a big part of it.
“And so we think he will be back. We think he will be up and running in a couple of weeks. We’re going to play him when he gets back.”
Nylander, meanwhile, skated with a junior team in Sweden on Wednesday. He happened to be wearing his Leafs helmet during the workout.