'Fresh' Matthews poised to go on scorching stretch
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TSN SportsCentre Reporter Mark Masters reports on the Maple Leafs, who practised at Ford Performance Centre in Toronto on Friday ahead of Saturday’s game against the Canadiens in Montreal.
In the dressing room after Thursday's 4-1 win, it was up to Ilya Samsonov to pass along Toronto's player-of-the game belt.
"No questions today," the goalie said.
He walked over to Auston Matthews, who scored twice against the Winnipeg Jets, and handed him the belt.
"Nice game, boys," the Hart Trophy winner told teammates.
It wasn't just a nice game for Matthews.
"Last night felt like a big night," head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "Two goals in a short amount of time and a number of chances where it could have been four or five goals. Those are the kind of nights that players of his calibre put together and then they go on good stretches and good runs of feeling good."
Matthews has played well this season, but hasn't been as dominant as in last year's 60-goal campaign. Thursday marked just his second multi-goal game of the season. He had 15 last season, including four hat tricks.
"It is probably the game that looked the closest to him last year in terms of him being dangerous and the way the puck went into the net," Keefe said.
Matthews has scored in all three outings since missing a pair of games due to an undisclosed ailment, which had been nagging him.
"It was good to reset and physically feel better, mentally, everything," he said. "It's no secret it's a bit of a grind throughout the season and sometimes a little bit of rest can go a long way. I've been feeling good lately."
"He's looking fresh out there," observed winger Mitch Marner.
Matthews has upped his shooting percentage to 12.8, which is creeping closer to his career average of 16. He scored on 17.2 per cent of his shots last season.
"I've had a lot of similar looks this year," he said after besting Vezina Trophy contender Connor Hellebuyck twice. "I've just been off a little bit as far as accuracy goes."
Matthews seems to have his mojo back now.
"It's nice to see that he's ripping the puck again," said linemate Michael Bunting, who picked up the primary assist on both Matthews goals. "He almost had three there. I think he's just going to keep building off that and building off that confidence."
Although maybe confidence isn't the right word.
"It's just the rhythm and the feeling of it," Keefe said. "I don't think a player of his calibre is ever short on confidence so it not a confidence thing, but it's just that rhythm. You get in your groove. Most scorers are streaky, because you get that feeling."
The thing about the streaks Matthews goes on is they tend to last a long time. He scored 51 goals over 50 games last season.
"He used the full arsenal yesterday, maybe save for the one timer," Keefe said. "It wasn't just the goals that went in, but just the nature in which he was able to generate the other chances. So, how he was skating and how he was getting to his spots. He was arriving at the right time when the puck was coming into the scoring area."
Next up is a date with the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
"We just got to be focused and go in there with the mindset that we're not going to be denied," Matthews said.
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It wasn't just the goals on Thursday. Matthews was a factor at both ends of the ice.
"He's a guy that's really come alive with a 200-foot game," Marner said. "He makes a lot of great plays for us defensively. Eats a lot of pucks. I think more than people think."
Matthews made a key block on Morgan Barron to preserve Toronto's lead in the third period.
"I'm just trying to do whatever it takes to win," Matthews said. "Sometimes the game calls for different things. One of our d-men lost his stick so just tried to make a play and I was able to get in front of it."
"It's unbelievable," said Samsonov. "Everybody sees what he's doing. If he's blocking shots, everybody needs to block shots. It's so good."
Entering Friday's games, Matthews sat third in blocked shots among NHL forwards behind only San Jose Shark Nick Bonino and Los Angeles King Anze Kopitar.
"We pressure a lot at the points," Matthews noted. "Sometimes the shots that are coming in maybe aren't as heavy because they don't have as much time. Sometimes they're easy to get in front of and block because they're not coming in too hard. That's a big factor."
Matthews is recording 3.57 blocks per 60 minutes this season, which is up from 2.47 last season.
Keefe stresses that Matthews has always been willing to step in front of shots.
"If the numbers are higher maybe that's a sign we've defended too much this year," the coach said.
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Matthews was voted onto the Atlantic Division all-star team.
"It means a lot," he said. "Obviously, it's a big honour. It's extremely humbling to go and I'm looking forward to it."
Considering how much the two-game break seemed to help, there's a case to be made that Matthews would benefit from skipping the mid-season showcase in Sunrise, Fla. But the Arizona native sees it as an energizing experience.
What does he enjoy most?
"Just meeting guys that maybe you don't know really well," he said. "It's cool to get to know people and enjoy the experience and take it all in. And Florida's a nice place to get a couple days off."
Despite being tied with Matthews on 24 goals, William Nylander did not make the cut. The Swede still hasn't cracked an all-star roster in his career.
"With the way it's set up, you're always going to have guys that are pretty deserving of going that won't go, because of the format," Matthews said. "I don't think something like that really rattles him."
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Bunting unleashed a verbal tirade on Mark Scheifele late in Thursday's game. The Jets centre appeared to be questioning why the referees blew a play dead after defenceman Timothy Liljegren was struck with a puck in the helmet.
"I don't really comment on that," Bunting said. "An emotional game and I don't really ever comment about what happens on the ice. I like to leave it on the ice and move on."
There's no doubt, though, that Bunting's mouth is a factor.
"He can raise the emotion and the intensity of the game as a result," Keefe noted. "Raise the temperature, which I think at times is very good for our team and shows how competitive he is. At times you got to tone him down to not cross the line and stay focused and not hurt the team in that regard, but I like a lot of that fire he has. It's a big part of his game and it adds a lot to the personality and emotion of our team."
Bunting got mic'd up by the team at Friday's practice for a feature video, which will be posted soon.
"He had an all-time pretty rough practice," Matthews cracked. "The next time he's going to be mic'd up is hopefully never."
What would happen if Bunting wore a microphone during a game?
"There wouldn't be a whole lot of footage you could use," Matthews said.
How much would TV networks be able to air?
"No comment," Bunting said. "I just talk a lot so maybe they'd get annoyed with me."
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Liljegren left Thursday's game and did not return, but the defenceman was back on the ice at practice.
"You just get a little bit shaken up when you take a puck to the head," the 23-year-old said. "It felt good once I got into the dressing room so nothing serious."
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After stopping a season-high 37 shots against the Jets, Samsonov will get another start on Saturday night.
"He was terrific," Keefe said. "In that first period, I thought we were on our heels a bit just with their speed and the pace that they played with — their best players, especially."
"My confidence is back after Detroit game here," Samsonov said referring to a 4-1 win over the Red Wings on Jan. 7. "I feel a little bit different. I didn't go play too far. I'm more stay in the net. I see puck better and not panic in the net. I feel good. We'll see in the future. This is hard league."
And Samsonov wasn't thrilled with every element of Thursday's performance.
"I little bit play like two blockers, but it's OK," he said with a grin.
On a couple of occasions, Samsonov couldn't quite squeeze shots that hit his glove hand.
"It's a lot of hard shots in the middle zone, yeah, and good shooters in Winnipeg," he continued. "But I'm seeing puck well, moving well too. All good."
Samsonov is almost unbeatable at home this season. He's posted a 12-0-1 record in Toronto and owns a sparkling .938 save percentage inside the friendly confines of Scotiabank Arena. On the road, however, Samsonov is 2-4-0 with an .887 save percentage.
Matt Murray, meanwhile, is 7-4-1 with a .921 save percentage on the road. His save percentage at home, though, is an ugly .888 in seven games.
"It is definitely a thing," said Keefe of the strange splits. "It is something we are looking at. As we have talked about with Murray, we are trying to get him a little bit more action at home. We have been trying to get Samsonov some time on the road."
Samsonov will look to reverse the trend on Saturday at the Bell Centre.
"We're trying to equalize that a little bit and give each guy a little bit of a different share of the load in both places so they can get a flavour of both and we can get a better sample," Keefe told TSN.
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Morgan Rielly quarterbacked the top power play unit on Thursday night. The five-forward look – Marner up top and Bunting joining the top unit – is on hiatus.
"We'll take a step back from that for now," Keefe said. "We just think it's time for a change again. The five-forward look has got us through a time where we were operating about 10 per cent and struggling. We went to the five-forward look and it got us back going and got us some confidence and got us through a period of time there with [Rasmus] Sandin and Rielly both out. We've learned a lot through that process so we like that."
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Top-six winger Calle Jarnkrok missed Friday's practice.
"Just a maintenance day for him," Keefe said. "It shouldn't affect him for tomorrow."
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Lines at Friday's practice:
Bunting - Matthews - Nylander
Hunt - Tavares - Marner
McMann - Kampf - Engvall
Aston-Reese - Kerfoot - Simmonds
Rielly - Liljegren
Giordano - Holl
Sandin - Timmins
Benn
Samsonov
Murray