Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sunday night, falling 6–1 to the Florida Panthers in Game 7.
Matthews put together another strong regular season—though it didn’t quite match his 69-goal campaign from a year ago. The Leafs' captain still finished with 33 goals and 45 assists for a total of 78 points. But once again, his postseason production was lacking when the lights shone the brightest.
In 12 career second-round games—all against the Panthers—Matthews has managed to score just one goal. That’s simply not good enough for the league’s highest-paid player this season ($13,250,000).
Two-time Grammy Award–winning artist Justin Bieber attended Game 7 with his wife, Hailey Bieber. A lifelong Maple Leafs fan and Ontario native, Bieber was seated directly behind the Toronto bench.
On Monday, he took to Instagram and reposted an old video of Matthews signing an autograph for a fan. Bieber added a two-word caption to his story:
"My cappppp," he wrote, tagging Matthews.
Bieber and Matthews have built a strong friendship over the years, dating back to when the Leafs star was selected No. 1 overall in the 2016 NHL Draft.
Directly after the game on Sunday night, Bieber also posted to his Instagram feed, expressing optimism about the future of his favorite team despite yet another disappointing ending.
"I don’t remember a time in my life when I haven’t been obsessed with the leafsssss," Bieber said. "This year we made it farther than we have in so long and im happy about thatI can be patient cuz I know this is the team to do it."
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