TORONTO | There’s no secret to slowing down Auston Matthews. There was Phillip Danault who had a helping of the magic recipe, but he’s now miles away with the Los Angeles Kings.
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There was also Carey Price. But he still finds himself in the infirmary with a knee injury.
Matthews once again energized the Maple Leafs’ offense in a 3-2 win against the Canadiens yesterday at Scotiabank Arena.
The center from Scottsdale, Arizona scored his 57and and 58and goals of the season in an interval of just 27 seconds halfway through the first period.
“It’s never easy to come into a game cold,” said Samuel Montembeault, who came to relieve Jake Allen after Matthews’ first goal. After two weeks without playing, I would have liked to receive a shot from a player other than Matthews on my first shot in this game. When he arrives with a lot of speed, he becomes even more unpredictable. He doesn’t have 58 goals by chance. »
Nearly 60 goals and 100 points
The Leafs officially received their ticket to the playoffs with this win against CH. On a more individual aspect, Matthews took two more steps towards a 60-goal season. He is also knocking dangerously close to 100 points with 99 points (58 goals, 41 assists).
Number 34 could become the first Leafs player since Doug Gilmour (111 points) in 1993-1994 to reach the symbolic figure of 100.
In the shot
The Leafs outshot 40-28, but they never found a way to get a resounding knockout. to their rivals. The CH once again found a way to stay in the game thanks to goals from Joel Edmundson, after a good play from Nick Suzuki, and from Cole Caufield.
And Montembeault did the job with many key saves.
What we noticed…
A FIRST SINCE MARIO
Jason Spezza had refused in the morning to talk about the possible streak of 50 goals in 50 games for Matthews. He was afraid of bringing him bad luck. But Matthews has enough talent to create his own luck. In the first period, the center from Scottsdale, Arizona scored two goals for his 57and and 58and goals of the season. It was also his 50and and 51and goals in their last 50 meetings. He became the first NHL player to achieve this feat (50 goals in 50 games, regardless of the time in the season) since Mario Lemieux between October 26, 1995 and March 7, 1996. To quote the great Mario: “C is something! »
ALLEN GETS INJURED
Jake Allen faced a 15-shot bombardment in just 13:32. He took off his mask after Matthews’ first goal, writhing in pain. He blocked a shot from Mark Giordano and as he attempted to move to stop the comeback, he appeared to strain his groin. With Allen’s injury, Martin St-Louis could trust Carey Price sooner rather than later.
THE RETURN OF PETRY
Jeff Petry appeared in the game against the Leafs, playing alongside Joel Edmundson. On the blue line, Jordan Harris replaced Corey Schueneman. Kale Clague also skipped his turn for this visit to the Ontario capital.
GOOD IN NUMERICAL INFERIORITY
The Habs had a good game shorthanded, killing five penalties. Alexander Romanov, David Savard, Petry and Edmundson held the fort together with Montembeault. In the third, the Leafs failed to score despite going five-on-three at 1:44.
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Montembeault
Auston Matthews was the big star of this game, but Samuel Montembeault also played very well He blocked 23 of the Leafs’ 25 shots
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Hoffmann
Mike Hoffman has a knack for turnovers Five-on-five, he didn’t generate anything offensively on the left wing with Jake Evans and Josh Anderson
First period
1-TOR: Auston Matthews (57) (Giordano, Marner)13:32
2-TOR: Auston Matthews (58) (Bunting, Holl)13:59
Penalties: Wideman (Mon) (double min) (inc) 13:59, Bunting (Tor) 13:59
Second period
3- MON: Joel Edmundson (2) (Suzuki, Petry)5:58
4- TOR: John Tavares (26) (Mikheyev, Kerfoot)8:07
5- MON: Cole Caufield (18) (Gallagher, Dvorak)18:03
Penalties: Pezzetta (Mon) 2:54, Tavares (Tor) 3:41, Romanov (Mon) 15:09, Rielly (Tor) 15:59, Giordano (Tor) 19:11
Third period
No goal
Penalties: T Pitlick (Mon) 11:01, Suzuki (Mon) 11:17, Engvall (Tor) 18:02
Shoot to the net
MONTREAL 8 – 11 – 7 – 26 TORONTO 18 – 10 – 12 – 40
Guardians:
MON: Jake Allen, Samuel Montembeault (P, 7-14-6) (at 1:32 p.m. of the 1st period) TOR: Erik Kallgren (G, 5-2-1)
Numerical advantages:
MON: 0 to 4, TOR: 0 to 5
Referees:
Chris Schlenker, Kevin Pollock
Linesmen:
Devin Berg, Kyle Flemington
ASSISTANCE:
19 113