Matthews one away from 70
Auston Matthews moved closer to a milestone that has gone untouched for more than 30 years.
Dylan Larkin and his teammates are fine with that — they secured two priceless points in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The captain of the Red Wings scored on a power play 41 seconds into overtime Saturday as Detroit topped Toronto, 5-4, despite Matthews bagging his jaw-dropping 69th goal of the season.
The Maple Leafs sniper scored in the second period as part of a comeback that saw the home side erase a 4-1 deficit. Every time Matthews touched the puck from there, the sense of anticipation rose inside a bubbling Scotiabank Arena.
“My approach every game, every night is the same,” he said. “I just try not to really overthink.”
Matthews, who has scored 10 times in his past eight games to equal Mario Lemieux’s total of 69 in 1995-96, is looking to become the first player to hit 70 goals in a campaign since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny both reached 76 in 1992-93.
Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said he got caught up in the moment after Matthews scored the Leafs’ third goal and sat just shy of 70.
“Major distraction,” he said. “It doesn’t help us in what we’re trying to accomplish on the ice. But it’s exciting. I get it.”
Alex DeBrincat, with two, David Perron, with a goal and an assist and Simon Edvinsson provided the rest of the offence for Detroit (3932-9). James Reimer made 32 saves in his 500th game. Patrick Kane and J.T. Compher both had two assists.
“It’s special,” said Reimer, who was drafted by the Leafs in 2006 and spent six seasons in Toronto. “Proud of the guys.”
Larkin, who also had an assist, redirected Kane’s shot in the extra period with Max Domi off for tripping.
“One of the biggest of my career,” Larkin said following his 33rd goal of 2023-24.
“You can’t feel any better.” Mitch Marner, with a goal and two assists, John Tavares and Nick Robertson also scored for Toronto (4624-10). Ilya Samsonov stopped 28 shots. Morgan Rielly had two assists.
Detroit is tied with Washington on points for the East’s second wild-card berth, but the Capitals own the tiebreaker with two games left for both teams. Saturday’s loss locks the Leafs into the Atlantic Division’s No. 3 spot with two road contests left on their schedule.
Down 4-1 after an ugly opening 20 minutes, Robertson scored his 14th at 9:04 of the second before Kane took a double-minor for high-sticking.
That set the stage for Matthews, who hit the crossbar in the first, to fire No. 69 past Reimer before emphatically punching the air at 10:23 inside a deafening rink.
“Players just decided it was important — that’s it,” Keefe said of what changed for his team at the intermission.
“When it’s time to play, we show what we’re capable of.”
Matthews nearly got his 70th moments later on a break, but Reimer closed the pads.
The Leafs got even at 17:22 when Tavares snapped his 26th as the home side dug out of that threegoal hole in just over eight minutes.
Samsonov, who nearly got pulled after the first, stopped Lucas Raymond in close with nine minutes left in regulation and made another huge stop right before OT with Domi in the box.
“I felt our team was gonna be better,” Keefe said.
“And I felt Sammy needed to be a part of that. Glad it worked out the way it did, because he was outstanding.”