Following the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 5-4 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, October 15, several topics sparked discussion.
Among them were, of course, head coach Jim Hiller’s decision to bench Gavin McKenna, John Tavares’ injury, about which little is known so far, and Kirill Marchenko’s hat trick.
Another topic is Auston Matthews’ strong performance and the chemistry he’s shown with William Nylander after several seasons of appearing incompatible on the ice.
On the latest edition of “The Leafs Morning Take,” Nick Alberga and Jay Rosehill discussed the situation and agreed that this is the best version of the Matthews-Nylander duo since their early days together.
Alberga first said, “The cool thing too is, like Nylander and Matthews, would you argue this is the most consistent chemistry we’ve seen from this duo maybe ever together as Maple Leafs? Like, I know we’ve had bits and pieces in the last decade, decade plus, but never consistency over the last couple of games the way we’ve seen here.”
Analysts Say This Is the Best Version of Matthews-Nylander on Maple Leafs
Rosehill added, “Yeah, it’s been the best since, like, the real early days, and people are yelling, ‘Why have they not played together? Why have they not played together?’ Well, they’ve tried, and there’s no chemistry there.”
“They’re bumping into each other, not finding the seams. They’re not really reading off each other, and it’s always made sense to split them up and spread that talent out.”
“For whatever reason, now they’re absolutely clicking. They look great together. I’ve been, you know, adamant about both of their, you know, just their attitudes, and the auras they’re giving out have been much more positive now than we’ve seen in the past. And I like a lot of what I see out of both of them. And if they’re on the same line, clicking, so be it. Run those horses, man.”
The Maple Leafs still have eight games remaining in October and must quickly return to action next Saturday when they face the New York Islanders at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
They will start the week by hosting the San Jose Sharks on Monday, Oct. 19, then travel to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets on Tuesday, Oct. 20.
On Oct. 22, they will return home to host the New York Rangers before visiting the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, Oct. 24.
Their final three games of the month will be against the Calgary Flames on Oct. 26 at Scotiabank Saddledome, the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 28 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, and the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on Oct. 31.
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