The fallout from the Toronto Maple Leafs’ latest Game 7 defeat continues, and this time it’s NHL legend Don Cherry weighing in on team captain Auston Matthews’ sharp postgame comments.
After Toronto’s 6-1 elimination loss to the Florida Panthers, Matthews accused unnamed teammates of being “passengers” in the season-ending collapse.
“I thought we were ready to play. It felt like we were in a good mindset,” Matthews said. “But I just thought we had too many passengers throughout the rest of the game. We weren’t on the same page.”
Fellow star forward Mitch Marner, for his part, echoed Matthews' view.
“Can’t have passengers in a Game 7,” Marner said. “That’s the right wording, I would say, as well.”
The Leafs’ core four of Matthews, Willima Nylander, Marner, and John Tavares were all held pointless in the Game 7 loss.
Speaking on Episode 309 of "The Don Cherry's Grapevine Podcast," Cherry addressed Matthews' remark and speculated on who the Leafs captain could have been referring to with his comments.
"Who are the passengers? I have no idea who the passenger is," Cherry said. "The only (one) I can think of is Nylander.
“I think it was Nylander. I really do believe it was Nylander.”
Nylander was held off the scoresheet in Game 7, finishing with a minus-1 rating and two shots through 17:39 time on ice.
During the playoffs, Nylander posted 15 points in 13 games, including six goals and nine assists, but he failed to score a single point after notching six through Game 3 of the series against the Panthers.
The Leafs drafted Nylander with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2014 NHL draft, and the 29-year-old winger signed an eight-year, $92 million extension with Toronto in Jan. 2024.
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