LEAFS STRETCH STREAK TO SIX
His third career hat trick leads Leafs to narrow victory over Ottawa
Mike Reilly and the Ottawa Senators defence were snowed under by the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night. Auston Matthews scored three times, increasing his league-leading goal total to 31 in a wild 6-5 victory. Mitch Marner added a goal and three assists for the Leafs, who have won six straight and improved to 5-2-1 against their provincial rivals. Said Marner: “Our chemistry is at an all-time high.”
Thirty one and counting.
Auston Matthews scored three times in the Maple Leafs’ 6-5 win over Ottawa on Saturday, moving eight goals ahead of his nearest NHL competitor in the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top goal-scorer. If he wins the race, he will be the first U.S.born player to lead the NHL in goals since Keith Tkachuk scored 52 in the 1996-97 season.
Leafs goalie Jack Campbell, meanwhile, won his 11th straight game, setting an NHL record for most consecutive wins to start a season.
Matthews erupted for two goals in a 39-second span midway through the first period. But the Senators, with their never-say-die work ethic, scored three straight goals in the second.
Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe put the Matthews line, with Mitch Marner and Alex Galchenyuk, out immediately after Tim Stuetzle scored Ottawa’s third goal. That paid off in a Marner goal, and Matthews completed his third career hat trick near the end of the second period as the line caught fire again.
“It felt good, it felt good,” a smiling Matthews said after the game. “(Marner and Galchenyuk) were making plays all night. I was fortunate to put them into the net.”
Matthews has scored at least 30 goals in each of his five seasons in the league, and would have been on pace for 50 if the NHL was playing a full season. With just 15 games remaining in the regular season, it’s a question of just how high he can go.
Matthews has certainly been a nightmare for the Senators since his arrival in the NHL; he now has 22 goals in 23 career games against Ottawa, the most he has against any one NHL opponent. Matthews also reached 101 career goals on home ice.
And Matthews and Marner, with four-point nights, each have 52 points on the season. The two passed the 50-point mark in the Leafs’ 41st game, the fastest a Leafs duo has done that in 79 years, when Billy Taylor Sr. and Lorne Carr reached 50 points in 39 games.
“Our chemistry is at an alltime high,” Marner said. á Something in the Soup: Campbell allowed five goals for the first time this season in 11 starts. But it has been an amazing 11 starts, all of them wins.
“I definitely owe the guys a nice red lobster dinner,” Campbell said. “I expect more of myself … It was a fun game, it wasn’t fun giving up five goals, but the guys played so well in front of me tonight.” á Tough to put away: Toronto won for the ninth time in the last 10 games, but the Senators continue to play them as tough as any opponent.
Alex Formenton scored a short-handed goal for Ottawa, which left the Leafs with an NHL-leading five short-handed goals against.
Former Leaf Connor Brown scored in the third to cut the Toronto’s lead to 5-4. It was Brown’s seventh consecutive game with a goal.
Toronto has now given up four goals in four of the eight games they’ve played Ottawa this year.
“They play us as well as anyone in the (North Division), and they don’t get enough credit for it,” Keefe said. á The long answer: The Leafs placed goaltender Frederik Andersen on long-term injured reserve to clear cap space to make the Nash deal. What that means for Andersen in unclear. He has not played in 23 days and was put on the long-term list retroactively.
There is a chance Anderson might not play again until there are about 10 games or fewer left in the regular season. If cap management is an issue, he might not play until the playoffs. “I think that the easiest way to describe it is just … there’s no timeline to the injury,” Keefe said. “It’s just really a matter of Fred being comfortable with where he’s at now.”
With Andersen’s continued absence, the Leafs have been mentioned in trade talks surrounding goalies. It is believed Ottawa has been showcasing Anton Forsberg, who started against Toronto on Saturday in his fourth game this week.