Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews is back to form

Monday on "Daily Faceoff Live," Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna discuss the hot play of Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews. 

Frank Seravalli: Let’s dive in to what was a pretty wild weekend for Auston Matthews because, guess what? News flash to the Tampa Bay Lightning and the rest of the Eastern Conference: He’s back! 

I got to say, Mike, when you look at the 15 shots on goal that Matthews put up Saturday night, the four goals that he has scored in the last three games and the six points that he’s had in the last three games. His 15 shots were the second most in the salary cap era; it finally feels to me that from the eye test, not necessarily production, Matthews is back to being the dangerous, elite threat that he had been missing most of the season. 

Mike McKenna: There’s a couple of reasons for that. This wasn’t even a month ago, and we were asking, “Where is he?” and, “Where’s the scoring?” Well, we did find out he had been dealing with a hand injury that had been bothering him most of the season, and now it does feel like he’s pretty healthy. I think you can see it in how he plays; his shooting is back to what you’d expect, he’s beating goalies clean from a distance but also driving the net really hard, and that shows to me a confidence in not just his game, but his body. He’s scoring goals from in tight, getting pucks on his blade and doing things he wants to. I think for him, and he’s got eight goals in his last 10 games, it’s what you expect from Matthews. His pace is down this year, but I think you factor that into the injury; I think you factor that into him rounding out his game and getting better defensively. So, kind of all that together, the bottom line is, Frank, he’s red hot. Here’s the reason why he’s wearing throwback 652 Tack Skates; that’s why Frank. These things look sick. 

Frank Seravalli: Pretty awesome; you’re a gear nerd, so one reason why. But, two, I’d say as well, the confidence and swagger is there for Matthews for me. That’s the biggest difference. When you saw him walk into the rink last year, every time he hopped over the boards, you thought, “This guy is an assassin,” and he’s going to score without thinking, without pressure; he just continued to do it night after night, and we had gone so many this year, really like 60 games which is the bulk of the season, without seeing that threat. Now if you look over these last 14 games, Mike, 10 goals scored for Matthews, and he certainly looks like he is back. That’s bad news for the Lightning, who seems right for the picking this year, even though they say they can flip the switch come to Stanley Cup playoff time. But if you’re the Leafs and looking to finally get over that hump and into the second round, Matthews being red hot at the right time would be key.

You can watch the full episode here…