Matthews scores 65th in overtime win
McCabe nets winner against Penguins as Leafs move within three points of second in Atlantic
Auston Matthews just keeps going.
The Maple Leafs centre scored his 65th goal of the season and assisted on Jake McCabe’s overtime winner in a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Scotiabank Arena on Monday night.
Kyle Dubas’s old team dealt his new one a blow in its pursuit of a playoff spot. The Penguins earned a point and tied Detroit for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Red Wings have a game in hand.
Matthews scored on a one-timer just three seconds into an early third-period power-play and tied Alex Ovechkin for the most goals in one season among active players. Matthews also has a five-game scoring streak and five games left to get to 70, a number last reached in the 1992-93 season by Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny.
“That’s crazy,” Penguins star Sidney Crosby said before the game, about Matthews’s pursuit.
“Looking at different years, big years from other guys, 70 just seems like a crazy number, but he could do it. It’s amazing. It speaks a lot to the consistency that he’s had.”
Said Matthews after the game: “Nice words coming from Sid, just who he is, what he’s accomplished. I have most respect for him. So obviously hearing that’s very humbling. For myself, nothing really changes. It’s just one game at a time and trying to go out there and compete and help the team win.”
The Leafs won for the fifth time in six games and moved to within three points of idle Florida, currently second in the Atlantic Division.
The Leafs have a game in hand and will finish the season next week in Florida against the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.
Matthew Knies also scored for the Leafs, his 15th goal of the season. He’s the third Leafs rookie in the past seven years with 15, joining Michael Bunting (23 in 2021-22) and Andreas Johnsson (20 in 2018-19).
As much as the hockey world wants to see how many goals Matthews will finish with, there are also those curious to see if William Nylander can get to 100 points for the first time.
“Pretty cool goal,” said Nylander. “A lot of players would like to get to it. If it happens, it happens.”
He was held without a point on Monday and sits at 96.
Welcome back, again
It was Bunting’s second game in Toronto since he left in the summer as a free agent. He scored in his return as a Carolina Hurricane, then was involved in the Jake Guentzel trade.
“I just wanted to come in and play my game,” said Bunting. “I have confidence in my game and I know how I can help a team. I feel like I’ve done that.”
Bunting had five goals and eight assists in 16 games as a Penguin coming into Monday. The Penguins were 8-5-3 with Bunting and in the hunt for the wild card. Trading Guentzel hurt, but the team moved on.
“We won the Stanley Cup, played seven years together,” said Crosby. “It wasn’t easy, but that’s part of the game. You’ve got to find a way through that. Once all the dust settles, everyone realizes: OK, this is our group and we’ve got to play better, regardless of who’s in the lineup or what the trade situation was. Our game had to be better, and we found a way here lately.”
Penguins strike
The one constant in the wins the Penguins have put together to get back into the wild-card hunt has been scoring first, and they did it again Monday night. They seemed much more engaged than the Leafs, who played too much hot potato when it came to puck handling in their own zone. They barely ventured beyond their own blue line, at least not for long stretches, while the Penguins ended up with two power plays that got their puckhandling skills going. And just when it seemed like the Leafs had weathered those storms, Pittsburgh’s Rickard Rakell scored the game’s first goal with under two minutes to go in the opening frame. Pittsburgh led 10-5 in shots and was having the kind of start it wanted.
Punishing Crosby
The Leafs responded by upping their engagement, playing Crosby particularly hard. He left the game at one point, after McCabe took an interference penalty for driving him into the post. Crosby also took a puck in the face courtesy of Bobby McMann (an initial high-sticking call was nullified by video review) and was levelled by Matthews late in the period.
A goal by Knies made it 1-1 through 40 minutes.