LEAFS NOTES: Auston Matthews returns to form as Toronto's Rocket Man vs Flames
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On St. Patrick’s Day, special teams had the green light for the Maple Leafs.
Many nights, penalty killing, power play or both have hindered what’s been a successful debut season for Craig Berube, but Monday’s 6-2 win over the Calgary Flames featured three man-advantage goals and four kills. A Berube challenge negated Morgan Frost’s goal with Nick Robertson serving a minor — “I’m thinking I hope I go back in the box,” laughed the Leaf winger of the excruciating delay — and another Calgary chance drained with a full two-minute shift ending without a sniff.
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LEAFS NOTES: Auston Matthews returns to form as Toronto's Rocket Man vs Flames Back to video
“They don’t get a shot means that’s pretty good,” said grateful goalie Joseph Woll. “I can speak for the defencemen (Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe saw nearly five minutes of kill time), they block shots at very good times.”
Though the Flames are in the league’s bottom half of both special teams, Berube liked the way all four killers were working, moving their feet, with forwards such as Matthew Knies and Steven Lorentz pressuring the points.
“They did a good job of breaking plays up when Calgary was moving the puck around well.”
Toronto’s five-forward power play did likewise, two goals from Auston Matthews, one from William Nylander, the unit’s first such hat trick this season.
“The biggest keys for me were the resets at the top, not forcing it through the seams,” Berube said, an area that Mitch Marner, Matthews and Nylander usually control. “It’s clogged up there, but we were moving it around, then we attack when we could and capitalized on some plays.”
MATTHEWS AND THE ROCKET
There hasn’t been much mention of Matthews defending his Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard goal trophy this year.
But the 70th anniversary of the Richard Riot in Montreal rendesvoued with the Leaf captain’s first two-goal night in three months. It’s certainly a good sign for the playoffs, not to mention before his second period slam dunks from the slot, a sixth loss in seven games was a distinct possibility, as was more trouble for them holding a high playoff seed in the Atlantic Division.
Richard did not see the 1955 playoffs for the Canadiens after then-NHL president Clarence Campbell suspended him for the balance of the season resulting from a March 13 stick swinging incident with Boston’s Hal Laycoe. After striking Laycoe, the fiery Richard punched linesman Cliff Thompson.
Following a hearing (no video was available in those days), Campbell’s decision outraged the Habs’ fan base, who interpreted it as anti-Quebecois, meant to hurt their chances of stopping the Detroit Red Wings dynasty. When Campbell attended a March 17 game at the Forum against Detroit, despite threats to his safety messaged to the league’s head office in the city, he was pelted with garbage and a fan took a swing at him.
When a tear gas cannister was ignited in the rink, the game was cancelled and awarded by Campbell to Detroit. Outside, fans did thousands of dollars in damage to stores around the Forum and Richard had to go on radio to appeal for calm.
GO GREEN
The Leafs donned their annual St. Patrick’s green on Monday, in homage to the team name from 1919-27. Re-branded from the Arenas by Irish-Canadian owners to attract a growing number of immigrants in Toronto from the Emerald Isle, the Pats won the 1922 Stanley Cup, though ironically lost Game 1 of that series to the Vancouver Millionaires on March 17. Conn Smythe changed the name to Maple Leafs upon his business group buying the team in 1927.
Toronto’s record on St. Patrick’s Day, including playoffs, is now 22-17-3, and 7-2-1 since 2000.
“It’s important that certain traditions are kept,” Leafs president Brendan Shanahan told the Toronto Sun in a previous interview about the wearin’ o’ the green each year. “That’s one our fans look forward to and our players all request to keep one of them.”
During warm-up, a woman was waving a shamrock-decorated sign that claimed she was named for Leaf great Red Kelly and she certainly had the hair colour.
CONNOR CORNER
It’s been a good start in Pittsburgh for forward Connor Dewar and defenceman Conor Timmins after the Leafs dealt the pair at the deadline for a fifth-round draft pick.
Dewar had a two-goal game Saturday when the Pens routed New Jersey 7-3, and has three overall, while Timmins has three points in four games. Interestingly, the Leafs were a combined 9-1 in games when both men had a point.
Laughton is looking for his first point in five games, Carlo had an assist Saturday against Ottawa.
After not getting a point in his first two starts with the Boston Bruins’ farm team in Providence, including a game against the Toronto Marlies, the traded Fraser Minten recorded a natural hat trick and an assist in Providence’s 4-1 win over Springfield on Sunday.
LOOSE LEAFS
Nylander’s goal and two assists brought him to 599 points and past Frank Mahovlich for ninth place in franchise history … Monday was also John Tavares’s 500th game as a Leaf, his 1,169th in the NHL … Adding Laughton and Carlo and deleting Timmins, Dewar and the demoted Ryan Reaves, left the Leafs with the fourth-oldest roster (29.17), according to OntarioBets.com. The Minnesota Wild rank first at 29.6.
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