Getting by without Matthews
Andersen turns back Wild as Leafs’ leader misses his first game
Do you remember life for the Leafs before Auston Matthews? Do you remember the temporary scaffolding-style rosters, or P.A. Parenteau as their second-leading scorer, or Leo Komarov as an all-star, because everybody needs one, and he was Toronto’s. Bless Uncle Leo. But.
Remember Leafs life before that? Boos, chants, waffles on the ice, Salutegate — for all the noise, a team decided not to salute its fans because they were upset at how they were being treated — Dion Phaneuf and the stereo, Phil and everything? The past wasn’t so long ago, really. It just feels that way.
That was all before Auston Matthews, who sat out Wednesday night’s empty-net-aided 4-2 victory against the Minnesota Wild with what was described as an upper-body injury. As much as the roster has been improved, Matthews is the biggest accelerator and had never missed a Leafs game before. Never one to waste a good crisis, coach Mike Babcock tried to make it a teachable moment for a young team that has been skidding off the road.
“Well, I just think it’s time for us to dig in,” Babcock said. “It’s simple. I don’t think you can race to 10 (goals) without him and so we’ve got to play right without the puck. And, if you play right . . . we’ve been talking and working on this for a long time, the results don’t always show it, but that’s what we’ve been trying to talk about and, growing up as a team, here’s a real good opportunity for us.”
Unpacked, Babcock was basically saying that without Matthews, the chance of this Leafs team outscoring its opponents — which for a team second in the league in scoring doesn’t seem too much to ask, at times — goes down dramatically.
And then the Leafs spent more time than you’d like chasing the puck against an injury-dotted Minnesota team.
Before the game, Wild defenceman Matt Dumba was chattering to his teammates in the hallway and barked, “It’s our city. They just live in it!” For long stretches, hockeywise, he wasn’t wrong.
Which led to the simplest solution to deal with no Matthews: timely goals, and have the goalie make some bleepin’ saves. Matthews may be this team’s superstar, but Frederik Andersen is its most indispensable player, and had been effectively absent — say, 10.05 per cent absent — for the first month of the season. Wednesday, he was the glue, stopping 35 of 37 shots. It changes so much, when your goalie makes saves.
“All in all, it was a good night for us. Good for our goaltender, too,” Babcock said. “Confidence is an important thing, it’s starting to get going, and it’ll be good for him.”
“When you have that good feeling,” Andersen said, “you want to build on it.”
Which, without Matthews and absent some real improvement, may be necessary. At 5-on-5, Matthews has been on the ice for 18 goals for and . . . five against. His linemates William Nylander and Zach Hyman are now at 17 and five and 11 and five, respectively. And the only other Toronto forwards who had been on the ice for more 5-on-5 goals for than against were Patrick Marleau, Nazem Kadri and Matt Martin. Kadri and Martin only got there Wednesday, and all three have onegoal margins.
Add in special teams and Matthews was at 27 for, eight against. The only NHL forwards on the ice for more goals: Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov in Tampa, and Jaden Schwartz, Brayden Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko in St. Louis. So, Matthews was centering the third-most productive line in hockey, more or less. Fifth in scoring, fifth in goals, 20 years old. That the Leafs reached a point where they split Matthews and Nylander in St. Louis, even briefly, was an indication of how messy the rest has been.
“He’s a guy we can play against anybody,” Babcock said. “He plays against the best matchups on the road and I think he’s plus — I don’t know what he is — plus-14 or something like that. He’s playing against the best D and the best forwards on the road and he’s playing against the best D and the second-best forwards at home. I think that speaks to it right there.”
Look, it’s not like it’s been Matthews and his line and nothing else. Morgan Rielly is having a serious season; Ron Hainsey has been capable. Kadri now has nine goals, one fewer than Matthews; Marleau has done everything you could ask. This is still a team with a lot of talent, and the capacity to do much more.
But this was a chance for the Leafs to show they are more than their top line. They only vaguely managed that, but won anyway. They still have plenty of work to do. Matthews wants to top Connor McDavid, whose Oilers could well have won that 2016 lottery, and who are al- ready in the running for the No. 1 pick next year. In Edmonton, the complaint is that McDavid doesn’t have enough around him; in Toronto, it hadn’t reached that point. It probably won’t.
Of course nobody knows how long Matthews will be out — “I don’t have a clue,” Babcock said. Unless it’s a real problem, this team should have enough to overcome his absence. The graveyards are full of indispensable men, goes the old saying, meant to be wry. But then, some are more indispensable than others.