Maple Leafs will only go as far as Auston Matthews will take it, inspired

The captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs was easily the best player on the ice that night. The album followed. And when it wasn’t, it was and looked for it. He shot him on the network twice.

As recently as last season, however, that was the norm.

This season? The Bis to 69 goals and an end among the top four in the vote of the Hart and Selke trophy? Does the first tour of the 27 -year -old as a captain and first campaign as the best paid hockey player in the world?

The Auston Matthews statement game has been few and distant.

In 2023-24, Matthews exploded for the ridiculous 18 multiple goals and six Hat tricks. He is free of tricks this season, and the break on Monday scored only the third night of two goals for Matthews under the new coach Craig Berube.

“He grabbed the room,” says Berube, whose group has passed from First to Third in the career of the Atlantic Division. “It is not good enough that is happening here.

“He spoke and then walked.”

Pavón It would be more precise.

The challenge now, as it has been throughout this mysterious German mysterious campaign, and the leaves of the leaves, and the Arce leaves, turn Monday’s domain in a race.

The way this team is structured, either through the distribution of salary or ice time or talent, Matthews must be a primary driver and producer.

That is clear if Toronto must embark on a deep race.

Is it fair? Probably not. But this is how they built this.

Max Domi called Matthews “the best player in the world” this week, which is something pleasant to say about a friend and teammate. The man has won a Hart, and he is the best goals that comes from the guy who is about to break the record of all time.

But this season has been a battle.

Matthews is in pace to score his sweater number in goals, which would be half of the production of another world of last season and would coincide with the minimum of his career (he scored 34 in 62 games in 2017-18).

The captain now occupies the third place among the Leafs in goals (26) and points (60). It is a Plus-2, below a plus-31 in each of its last two years, and is receiving more penalties than ever.

Matthews, a three -time goal champion, is in the 33rd position in the Rocket Richard trophies race, and his 17 goals of uniform force place him 46º in that category throughout the league. Last season, he destroyed the field with 51.

Its shooting percentage is a worse race 12.6, well below its 15.9 race average. and 18.7 last season.

He is also shooting less frequently and seems doubts to shoot at times. The 3.98 shots per game of Matthews pale at 4.56 of 2023-24.

Of course, Puck Luck is a factor, but it’s not the whole story.

He has made 14 transverse posts or bars, but last year he exceeded the entire league in that category with 20. And it has already benefited from more empty networks (three) than last season (two).

“Listening, anyway is a safe guy,” says Berube. “He is not sitting here worrying, ‘Well, I don’t have as many goals as I had last year.’ It’s about playing 200 feet and doing the job and being a good leader.”

In addition to this, the only other season in which Matthews recorded more assists than the goals (2022-23), we knew he had been dealing with a persistent wrist injury. That problem finally required two surgeries to solve, one of which was not announced by the club.

With what Matthews is physically dealing with this winter, he is not saying. Man is private by nature, and public excuses are not the form of hockey.

Then, not confirmed speculation bubbles. The murmurs of a rear ailment persist. A source mentioned a painful neck in the confrontation of 4 nations. Is the doll bothering him again? Fatigue of one half of the schedule?

It is a riddle game, but that persists while Matthews jumps the occasional practice for “maintenance” and receives “treatment” after hard skates.

“It is that point in the season where everyone is moving forward at this time,” says Matthews. “So, yes, it is what it is.

Because Matthews is skating at just under 100 percent, Berube is monitoring the ice time of the star, and did a good job on Monday, taking care of him less than 17 minutes.

This task will show that Herculean arrives at the time of the playoffs, when it is to do or die and launch a mistreatment of Matthews about the boards still gives the team a better opportunity to score than, for example, a correct center like David Kämpf or Scott Laughton.

A remarkable trend in those games where Matthews seems its best will is a will to participate physically. Until he suffered his “upper part of the body” injury in the training field, his successes by 60 had been in a stable ascent during his career and had reached 3.14 in 2023-24.

That number has dropped 1.84 this season. But the eye test is enough: most of the nights, Matthews is making more caution.

“At this time of the year, there are always guys who are playing injured or beaten and those things, and he is no different,” says Berube. “But he will fight him.

What promises here is the fight that Matthews showed at the beginning of an important week that continues with a new against the Colorado Avalanche (Wednesday) and the desperate New York Rangers (Thursday).

Could you find your voice at the same time as your hands?

That is not just hope in Leafland. It is a necessity.

“I was leading on the ice, leading the room, speaking to men through,” says the eaves of the Leafs, Bobby Mcmann. “Just reiterating that we are a great team and we have what we need to shoot these teams if we want.”

An empathetic John Tavares remembers that the captaincy is a new responsibility of her teammate, which Matthews is still growing in that role. Which makes the most vowel approach to the new leader behind the scene is encouraging and intriguing.

“The way it has been taken in the last two weeks has been phenomenal,” says Tavares. “It wants to be that driving force and give that example and play at a very, very high level.

“He putting the album on the network, is as good as anyone in the world in that, and did it in a huge way for us the other night.

We will discover if Matthews is, in fact, find his step and choose his places at the perfect time. Or if a “deactivation” season for the new captain spell the same for the Maple Leafs.

“Hopefully,” says Matthew Knies, “can capture some fire here and move on.”

Only Leafs Nation’s joy depends on it.