MAKING CANADA GREAT AGAIN
Laine-Matthews rivalry is bringing the excitement back where it belongs. Bruce Arthur and Dave Feschuk,
“Can you guys turn some lights on?” squinted Paul Maurice to the TV cameras, as if he had never coached in the big city before. The implication, clearly: big game between the Winnipeg Jets and the Toronto Maple Leafs. How often, ever, had that been said?
Maybe once in at least 20 years, and only because Toronto had Auston Matthews and the Jets had Patrik Laine. Canada loves its hockey superstars even if they were not, strictly speaking, born here.
“I know, skating with Matthews at the World Cup, he’s a guy who always wants to get better, and he wants to be the best,” said Jets forward Mark Scheifele, who was on Matthews’ line with Connor McDavid for the late, lamented Team North America. “And same with Patty, he wants to be the best. And that’s pretty awesome to see kids that are that awesome this young, and still want to push to be the best.”
Matthews and Laine going one-two in the draft has, improbably, given Winnipeg and Toronto a rivalry. Both cities have spent the season shouting, Our Guy Is Better. Asked what it meant to have two players like that, Maurice said, “Lots to the league, maybe more to Canada.”
“I mean, this is such a passion across the country, and an appreciation for young players, for stars, for gifts, right?” Maurice said. “We’ve all been on the ice as players, and we all know how much better Patty and Auston are than we are.”
And that’s why it was a big game, beyond the standings. Laine is already one of the great natural goalscorers we have ever seen, with his long lanky arms and ungodly release; Matthews is a nimble bull on skates. The argument over which one is better hasn’t changed; it has marinated, and the 18-year-old and the 19-year-old are both top-10 scorers.
Big game. The Manitobans in the crowd bellowed “True North” with the anthem, and there was on-ice animosity to burn. Laine got his 29th goal four minutes in, and his 30th in the closing seconds of a wild second period. Matthews drew a penalty on Dustin Byfuglien, picked up two power-play assists, took a flat-footed hooking penalty with 25 seconds left, and then got the assist on Jake Gardiner’s game-winner in overtime. 5-4. Good pass.
“He sees the ice so well,” Scheifele said of Matthews. “I think that’s the thing that gets overshadowed . . . he has a plan before he gets the puck, and that’s something that’s really cool to see, as a young kid, not playing many games, he looks so poised, and he looks like he has experience out there.”
“(It’s) distracting, you know?” Maurice said. “You become a fan behind the bench . . . I guess we don’t like to admit that as coaches, but I do.”
“I watch (Laine) shoot the puck every time he goes down the ice,” Maurice said, “because I’m pretty darned excited to see what he does with it this time. It’s spectacular.”
As for the two kids, they have both learned to sing from the hockey songbook. Both claim they don’t check the stats, which is fine. They have fans and media for that.
“I know, it’s pretty relevant, I can see that,” Matthews said. “I have the same answer: Stay focused on the team, myself, and not get too worried about that stuff.”
“I don’t like comparing myself to him, because we’re different players. I just want to focus on my game,”
“It’s going to be fun to watch that young group grow up and play against each other.” CONNOR CARRICK LEAFS DEFENCEMAN
Laine said. “Just try to be better every day, and yeah, my goal is to be the best player some day.”
They both want that, and it’s a hell of a time in this country. Most of Canada’s franchises were recently hopeless, and now Toronto has Matthews and fellow rookie Mitch Marner, and Winnipeg has Laine and Scheifele, and Edmonton has McDavid, and even Calgary has Johnny Gaudreau, all 23 and under, stars to build around. Rivalries in the NHL are almost always conducted by proxy — Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin have met in the playoffs twice in 11 seasons — but they’re still fun.
Now cities have benchmarks, and the players do, too. Nobody believed Matthews or Laine when they say it’s just another game.
“You know the matchups that are going to get talked about: Laine-Matthews, or Laine-McDavid, McDavid-Matthews,” said Leafs defenceman Connor Carrick. “It’s going to on and on here, for a bit. And really, as a supporting player, I’m not Auston Matthews. But you feel like you want to play well for a guy who’s on centre stage that night. You feed off it. You know he’s up for it, you know he’s getting asked about it, you want to be up for it. And it’s going to be fun to watch that young group grow up and play against each other.”
“I think it’s better when you’ve got good teams,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “Obviously, for the people in Canada, they’re hoping there is real good teams in Canada, so they get to watch hockey in the spring. The better players you have, the better chance you have to have that. I think, when you look at players playing in Canada, there are some real good players playing in Canada right now.”
Welcome to the new world. We’re back.