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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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BUFFALO – As the NHL’s regular season winds down, Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs are ramping up.

Already in the midst of the best rookie season in Toronto Maple Leafs history, Matthews has managed to find another gear since recovering from his seven-game pointless drought on March 18. Since then he’s recorded 11 points over his season-long nine-game streak, re-writing Toronto’s rookie record books in the process. Six days after passing Wendel Clark for most goals, in Monday’s 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres, Matthews toppled Peter Ihnacak’s rookie points record with his 67th of the season. He also tied Gaye Stewart’s rookie goal-streak record at five games.

“It’s great,” Matthews said of the feat. “I play with some really great players, so a lot of credit to them. As a team we’ve been getting better and better each segment and we want to continue to play well.”

Even with all the praise he has earned for tearing through Toronto’s record book, it’s Matthews’ unwavering dedication to his team that has helped put them in the playoff position they are with four games to go in the regular season.

“I think we all knew how talented he was coming into it,” Morgan Rielly said. “But his hard work, his attitude towards his teammates and his commitment to playing a team game has really taken him to the next level. He deserves all the accolades he’s received and that he’s going to receive and we’re all really happy for him.”

The Scottsdale, Arizona native is also the new leader in goals scored by an American-born rookie, passing Neal Broten when he buried his 39th of the season on Monday. It came during a 43-second flurry of goal scoring by Toronto in the first period of Monday’s game, when Leo Komarov, Matthews and then James van Riemsdyk all beat Robin Lehner and chased the netminder 4:51 into the game. Toronto improved to 3-11 in their last fourteen meetings in Buffalo.

Toronto is now the second club in NHL history, along with the 1980-81 Quebec Nordiques, to feature three rookies with 60-plus points after Mitch Marner and William Nylander each tallied an assist to reach the mark.

“They’re good. That’s just the reality,” Mike Babcock said of the trio. “They’re real good players, they’ve had good growth during the year. We have a lot of good rookies, and they’ve all had real strong years for us.”

They key for Toronto’s rookie class, as with the rest of the team, has been an insatiable desire to improve each day. No matter what pinnacle they hit or how many wins the club strings together on the strength of their individual performances, the desire for more has never abated.

“They’re very creative, very skilled. But the most important thing is their work ethic,” said Frederik Andersen. “They keep working to get better. They don’t want to just be good rookies, they want to be leaders of the team on the ice too and that pushes everyone else. That’s the mentality we have in our locker room right now.”

Nylander hitting the 60-point benchmark came in the presence of his entire family, who made the trek to Buffalo to cheer on him and his younger brother Alexander, who was making his NHL debut for the Sabres. Witnessing the latter experience was ultimately more rewarding for the elder sibling.  

“It was a huge win for us and a lot of fun to see him play his first game,” Nylander said. “I probably had the best seat in the house to watch him play his first game. It was pretty cool. I didn’t think too much [about point totals], I just wanted to play well throughout the year and earn my spot here.”

With the victory, Toronto improved to 11-2-1 in its last 14 games in Buffalo, the only regulation loss coming at KeyBank Center 10 days ago.

Takeaways

Getting closer: With five games to play in the final seven games of the season, Toronto couldn’t afford to overlook the Sabres and the points they could bank before facing three Metropolitan Division powerhouses and one desperate division rival (Tampa Bay) in the coming days. The victory moved Toronto back to second place in the Atlantic Division with a game in hand on the Boston Bruins, who face the Lighting on Tuesday in what will be a crucial matchup for the Bolts’ playoff hopes. The Maple Leafs’ probability of a playoff berth remains excellent, but they want to continue pushing themselves in this final stretch so they’re probably primed for the uptick in competition that could await them. The Maple Leafs’ first chance to clinch a playoff spot will be Tuesday if they beat the Washington Capitals and the Lightning lose in regulation to Boston. The Maple Leafs’ 93 points this season is already the most by a Toronto team since 2003-04.

Shooting gallery: The Maple Leafs are riding a four-game winning streak, but Monday was the first time in that span they’ve actually outshot an opponent, putting 45 shots on goal to Buffalo’s 22. The Maple Leafs outshot Buffalo 18-2 in the first period alone. In fact, Toronto had been outshot in their last eight games, dating back to the 5-0 blowout of the Lightning on March 16. They key for the Maple Leafs has been not just Andersen’s stellar goaltending but also that they have been able to generate quality chances and capitalize on them to mitigate any deficiency in the total number of shots going on net. Buffalo registered the second-fewest shots allowed by Toronto this season; the fewest has been 20 in three games (most recently on Feb. 21 against Winnipeg).

Taking chances: Babcock said discipline would be important for his group after they gave up two power play goals to the Sabres in their last meeting, and while Toronto did a better job than their hosts of staying out of the box, it didn’t help them much. When the second began Toronto couldn’t get anything going on the power play and Ryan O’Reilly made them pay, walking right past Gardiner and snapping a one-timer over top of Andersen’s shoulder. Gardiner seemed to be anticipating a pass and didn’t challenge the centerman at all as he charged towards the net. It was the first short-handed goal the Maple Leafs had ceded since March 14. In the third period Toronto finally took advantage of the extra man with Nazem Kadri’s team-leading 12th power play goal of the season. Kadri incited Rasmus Ristolainen’s ire with some choice words following the goal and the two continued the spirited exchange all the way to the box to put Toronto on the kill. The Maple Leafs finished the night 1-for-3 on the power play.

Keep away: In each of Toronto’s last three games they have found themselves in control of the action and then relaxed for long enough to see leads and possession time slip away. While they at times were too lackadaisical in their own zone against Buffalo, it was a solid night for the team possession-wise, with 58 per cent. Only four of the Maple Leafs’ forwards were below 50 per cent, and Kasperi Kapanen was once again among them. The speedy, talented winger has played four games this season on Toronto’s fourth line and has yet to register his first NHL point. With Matt Martin and Brian Boyle he’s averaging around 10 minutes a game (including penalty kill time) and isn’t able to generate many of the quality opportunities he was seeing on a nightly basis in the AHL. For a point-per-game player like Kapanen, he is bound to find his way eventually, and he has still shown flashes of his great speed and skill even without the results.

Next game: Toronto returns home for the start of a four-game homestand, facing the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.