Leafs’ Matthews already in rare form
Scores hat trick in win over Habs
Auston Matthews showed that he’s ready for the regular season as he scored three goals and added an assist to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-1 win over the Canadiens Monday night at Ricoh Coliseum.
The Canadiens and the Maple Leafs offered lineups that were close to NHL calibre — the Canadiens were missing No. 1 goaltender Carey Price and an ailing Jonathan Drouin — but the Leafs dominated despite being outshot 35-21.
It was the fifth consecutive loss for the Canadiens, who have been outscored 20-7, but coach Claude Julien tried to put a positive spin on training camp.
“I thought we had an edge in possession but we made too many mistakes defensively and we have to be better around the net,” said Julien. “Those are two areas we have to clean up.”
Matthews scored twice in the first five minutes to give the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead.
Last season’s rookie of the year used Shea Weber as a screen to beat last-minute starter Al Montoya for the opening goal at the 47-second mark. Weber was backing up when Matthews slid home a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle.
Matthews started and finished the play on the second goal at 4:56. He picked off a clearing pass from Torrey Mitchell at the blue line, shot from the right wing and then circled around to the left side. William Nylander and Nikita Zaitsev each had a crack at a rebound before Matthews plucked the puck out of the air with a backhander.
Patrick Marleau, the Leafs’ prize acquisition in the off-season, made it 3-0 when he scored at 3:39 of the second period.
Frederik Anderson lost his shutout when defenceman Jeff Petry scored at 11:32 of the second period. Rookie Victor Mete picked up the only assist on the play as he continued to delay his return to junior hockey.
“I thought I played pretty good,” said Mete. “I held my own. It was a successful game for me.”
“He was one of the bright lights in our game tonight,” said Julien. “He handled himself against lots of NHL players.”
Mete has a year of junior hockey eligibility remaining and, when Julien was asked whether Mete had a shot of playing in the NHL this season, he replied: “I think it’s open.”
Matthews completed his hat trick when he used his speed to score on a breakaway at 3:46 of the third period.
Nylander wrapped up the scoring with a power-play goal at 6:32 with Matthews supplying an assist for his fourth point of the night.
Charlie Lindgren was supposed to play the entire game in goal for the Canadiens, but he pulled a muscle in a pre-game stretching session.
There was also a change up front as Torrey Mitchell replaced Jonathan Drouin at centre on the top line with Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher. Drouin was scratched with a minor muscular ailment.