Getty Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs visited Buffalo on Saturday, March 30, led by an inspired Auston Matthews who was trying to score a historic 60th goal this season.
Not only did Matthews score that long-chased goal, but by doing so he kept alive a seven-game point-scoring streak while helping his team win another game, this time against the Sabres, 3-0 without much trouble.
Actually, there was some late-game trouble with the contest virtually over, less than a minute left, and nothing left to play for.
With 55.6 seconds left in the third period, the referees called a boarding penalty on Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin for a hit on Leafs blueliner T.J. Brodie. This incident shouldn’t have sparked even the smallest of scuffles. What ensued, however, was a bizarre brawl in which everybody (all 10 skaters on the ice) was involved but nobody seemed to be very interested in fighting.
Both teams joined the fray and by the end of it, the refs handed 10-minute misconduct penalties to all 10 skaters involved in the skirmish, removing them from the game.
The offenders banned from the final seconds of play were Leafs’ Mark Giordano, Tyler Bertuzzi, Matthews, Brodie, and Bobby McMann, along with Sabres’ Dahlin, Jordan Greenway, Alex Tuch, JJ Peterka, Owen Power, and Tage Thompson.
Auston Matthews: 9th NHL Player With Multiple 60-Goal Seasons
While the brawl came out of nowhere and nobody could imagine it happening with less than a minute left in a 3-0 game, it’s easy to envision Matthews scoring his 60th goal of the season.
Matthews put the puck in the net for a 60th time this year with the clock hit 14:23 in the third and final frame of Saturday’s game. It was Matthews’ 95th point in 60 games played, and his 13th point in his last seven games played.
60 GOALS FOR AUSTON MATTHEWS
Now that he’s tallied his 60th goal, Matthews can count himself as one of only nine players who have scored as many goals in a single season at least twice throughout their careers.
Before Saturday, the list featured legendary players Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Brett Hull, Mike Bossy, Phil Esposito, Jari Kurri, Steve Yzerman, and Pavel Bure. From Saturday on, you can add Auston Matthews’ name to it.
“It’s special. I try to pride myself on playing a full, 200-foot game,” Matthews told reporters in his postgame press conference on Saturday, March 30. “I know I can score.”
When it comes to the Rocket Richard Trophy award race, which is given to the NHL’s top goalscorer, Matthews (60 goals) put more distance between himself and Zach Hyman (52) and Sam Reinhart (51) as the other two players rounding up the top-3 entering April.
Struggling Maple Leafs Finding Their Footing Ahead of Playoffs
Not everything was rosy in Toronto just a few days before Matthews’ historic outing and the ensuing scuffle in Buffalo.
At the start of last week, following a 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, March 26, head coach Sheldon Keefe threw his team under the bus and called everybody out in his postgame press conference.
“It was just really immature, all the way through our game,” Keefe told reporters on March 26 after the loss to the Devils. “I thought it was immature from our most experienced players, our leaders.”
Right after saying that and after calling out veteran John Tavares in particular, as documented on Heavy, the forward opened the score on Saturday scoring the opening (and ultimately game-winning) goal against the Sabres during his 1,100th NHL game.
Leafs goalie Ilya Samsonov, who suffered an injury on March 23, returned to the crease and stopped all 34 shots he saw on his way to winning his 20th game of the season. He’s 6-1-1 in his last eight starts posting a .926 save percentage and looking like the incumbent starter for Toronto once the Stanley Cup Playoffs get going.
Toronto has won four of their last six games and is entering April off back-to-back wins against the Washington Capitals and the Sabres. The Leafs are firmly in position to clinch a postseason berth as soon as the first week of the month is over.
According to MoneyPuck, Toronto has 100% odds of making the playoffs albeit they have not officially clinched yet with games against top-tier franchises, including the Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, and New York Rangers coming up next.