Auston Matthews' Leadership Questioned By Former Maple Leafs Player

Matthews, in his first season as Leafs captain, had two shots and finished minus-2 in Sunday’s 6–1 Game 7 home loss to the Panthers.

"I'm watching this last night, and—see, for me, Auston Matthews is (Evgeni) Malkin in Pittsburgh," Kypreos said. "He's very talented and showed that he can play the game as well as anybody. 

"Has the talent to be the best player on the ice... but Malkin is nothing if there's no (Sidney Crosby)."

The defeat eliminated Toronto from the playoffs and extended their run of futility in winner-take-all games to seven straight losses.

“Matthews needs a Crosby," Kypreos said. ”He can’t do it being the number one guy. He’s not a leader.”

After the game, Matthews acknowledged Toronto’s disconnect in crucial moments, calling out the Maple Leafs "passengers" during the second and third periods of the Game 7 defeat.

“I thought we were ready to play,” Matthews said. “But I just thought we had too many passengers throughout the rest of the game. 

”We weren’t on the same page.”

The Leafs gave up three goals in the second period and never recovered. No member of Toronto’s Core Four—Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares—was able to score a point in Game 7.