TORONTO – When Auston Matthews scored his 25th goal of the season Tuesday night, he tried to keep it to himself.

Positioned in front of the net, Matthews clearly felt Jake Gardiner’s point shot tip off his stick past Dallas goalie Antti Niemi to give Toronto a 2-0 lead. But he didn’t celebrate like he’d scored. Only when Gardiner asked if he deflected the puck did Matthews begrudgingly confirm he did, insisting Gardiner still go first through the fly-by bench celebration line.

“I didn’t know if it was going to show up on the video that I tipped it,” Matthews said after practice on Friday. “I knew I tipped it, but I didn’t know if it was enough for them to be like, ‘This guy tipped it.’ So I just told [Jake] to go ahead and do his thing.”

Five months into one of the most acclaimed rookie seasons in franchise history, Matthews has maintained an understated confidence. While fellow rookie Mitch Marner has endeared himself to Toronto fans with his enthusiastic goal celebrations, Matthews is stoic when lighting the lamp. The 19-year-old leads the Maple Leafs – and all NHL rookies – in goals scored with 25, but still takes the scene around him in stride – for the most part.

“Sometimes, if it’s a really big goal, you might throw something else in there,” said Matthews, smiling. “But for the most part, I try to keep it pretty simple.”

With few exceptions – his first NHL goal in Ottawa and the overtime winner against Detroit in the Centennial Classic come to mind – Matthews doesn’t really believe in excess celebration on the ice. He’s just as composed off it, a master of deflecting praise who can turn a conversation about his game into one about the team with ease.
While he will acknowledge his ample talents when pressed, Matthews has maintained the values instilled in him early on.

“We’ve always wanted Auston to be confident, but humble, and not mouth off or say things, but just go out and do it,” his father Brian said. “For us, when people need to talk about themselves or they need to talk about their abilities, then that means they don’t really have confidence in that skill. If he scores a spectacular goal, we want him to celebrate; it’s something special. But at other times, enjoy the moment but act like you’ve done it before.”

There have been challenges in his mostly charmed rookie season. Matthews has gone through publicized scoring lulls, most notably for 13 games from Oct. 27 to Nov. 22. He felt the outside pressure that came with head coach Mike Babcock declaring in November he’d be a “dominant centre by Christmastime.” And when the one-year anniversary of the Dion Phaneuf trade passed on Thursday, the conversation about who will be Toronto’s next captain inevitably swelled around Matthews.

He has never been a captain before, just an alternate in the U.S. National Team Development Program. While obviously aware of the talk that trumpets him as the perfect candidate for the Leafs’ job, Matthews remains unfazed by the notion.

“If you start to believe in the hype and that you deserve it or are somehow anointed to have it…that’s not his MO and that’s not how we raised him,” said the elder Matthews. “We treat it like every game is his first game and keep reminding him of it – not that he needs it.”

A natural competitor who’s regularly first on and last off the ice, Matthews has been dialed in on improving at faceoffs. He’s currently fourth among active Maple Leafs (with more than one draw) in faceoff win percentage, at 45.5 per cent.

Matthews’ success in that area hasn’t been as consistent as he’d like it – he had two straight games in late January at 61.5 and 70.6 per cent in the dot, followed by a 44.4 per cent average in his next seven.

Matthews and Babcock, along with video coach Andrew Brewer, have begun discussing his work on draws more frequently. On Tuesday night his line generated a score off a critical faceoff win.

“I’m a pretty big guy, I weigh 215 pounds, so I think I’m just trying to get in there and create a 50/50 battle, tie the guy up and often that can work in my favour,” Matthews said. “But there are also little tricks that guys who have been around for a while know, so it’s always tougher against a veteran guy.”
Tricks like cheating for a win?

“I don’t think I get tossed out too much, so I guess I could cheat more,” he said. “[We do] video and stuff on different things – body positioning, cheat as much as you can within the rules and as much as the ref is going to let you. It’s about finding that line where you’re trying to gain as much position on the other guy as you can.”

Based on how quickly the rest of his game has improved this season, Matthews seems like a good bet to soon be dominant on draws.

“Auston is doing better and better, especially lately,” said linemate Connor Brown. “He’s been snapping them back.

“With time, he’ll be one of the better faceoff guys in the league."