Star forward Auston Matthews equaled a mark set 26 years ago by “The Magnificent” on Saturday after scoring two goals to allow the Toronto Maple Leafs to inflict a 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
Matthews’ two goals allowed him to become the first player to score at least 50 goals in as many games since a certain Mario Lemieux in 1995-1996. Lemieux — like Matthews — had scored 51 goals in 50 games between October 26, 1995 and March 7, 1996.
” He [Matthews] was good, and he was good early. But I’m happy with how we fought,” interim head coach Martin St-Louis said in a postgame videoconference.
“We stayed in the game and ‘Monty’ [Samuel Montembeault] gave us a very good game in relief of Jake [Allen] after his injury. I’m happy with the way we fought, even if we didn’t get the result we hoped for. We stayed in the game, we ran out of penalties and we got a chance at the end of the game to tie the game,” added the Quebecer.
John Tavares completed the scoring for the Maple Leafs (47-19-6), who posted a second straight victory. At the same time, they confirmed their participation in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Joel Edmundson and Cole Caufield fought back for the Canadiens (20-41-11), who may have lost another goaltender to injury.
Jake Allen, who stopped 14 of 15 shots he faced, left the game midway through the first period with a lower-body injury. Samuel Montembeault replaced him and made 23 additional saves. It is unknown at this time the nature of Allen’s injury, as well as the duration of his absence.
As to whether Allen’s injury could precipitate Carey Price’s return to play, St. Louis dismissed that possibility out of hand.
“When Carey is ready, he will play. Regardless of whether Jake is injured or not, we will not rush Carey’s return to play because of the situation. We will stick to our game plan with Carey,” he said simply.
At the other end of the rink, the Leafs sent rookie goaltender Erik Källgren into the fray, making his seventh career NHL start. The 25-year-old Swede, who suffered the loss against the Habs on March 26, stopped 24 shots in front of the Toronto cage.
It was the fourth and final game of the 2021-2022 campaign between the two teams, who shared the honors of this series.
After the game, the Canadiens returned home for their Monday night game against the Winnipeg Jets.
In addition, the Canadian indicated after the meeting that Jonathan Drouin’s season is over. The Quebec forward had wrist surgery on Friday and the team expects a full recovery. Drouin should also be ready for the start of training camp.
An inspiring video for Matthews
The Maple Leafs highlighted Matthews’ 55th and 56th goals of the season against the Dallas Stars on Thursday night by playing a short video on the giant screen during a first-period break. Those goals allowed him to surpass Rick Vaive’s mark (54) for the most goals in a single season in Toronto franchise history.
Matthews seemed whipped by this attention.
The 24-year-old American first took advantage of a lucky rebound to beat Allen and get his 57th goal of the campaign — and his 50th in his last 50 games — at 1:32 of the first period. Allen appeared to injure his groin on the streak, and he had to be escorted to the locker room with the help of a team therapist.
Then, 27 seconds later, after Montembeault took over, Matthews struck again for his 58th goal of the season. It was already 2-0 in favor of the locals.
Returning from intermission, the Maple Leafs kept the pressure on the Habs, but it did not flinch. In fact, he even narrowed the gap to just one goal at 5:58.
William Nylander was first frustrated on a breakaway in front of Montembeault then, on the following restart – initiated by a decisive play from Caufield – Edmundson scored his second goal of the campaign.
Tavares restored a two-goal cushion 2:09 later, but Caufield came back on the charge, beating Källgren with a snappy wrist shot with 1:57 to go.
The CH could have created the equality at the end of the match, when they had a numerical superiority, but they were unable to capitalize. As a result, Torontonians were thrown into the great spring dance.
Locker Room Echoes
Josh Anderson had a lot of compassion for his teammate Jake Allen.
“Every time you see a teammate go down in battle, it’s tough. He’s been through so many hurdles this season, including an injury and a long process to regain his health. He has been playing very well since his return to the game, so it’s a blow for him, that’s for sure. »
Samuel Montembeault said he was happy with the way he bounced back from Auston Matthews’ second goal.
“I didn’t have a warm-up, and it had been a long time since I had received a pitch. Of course, when it’s been two weeks since you received a pitch, I would have preferred to receive a first one different from that of Matthews who arrives at full speed in the center of the ice. But I was happy, because it didn’t affect my ‘game’ too much and I was able to put that behind me. It went well afterwards. »
Jeff Petry, who hadn’t played since March 24, admitted it took him a while to get back into sync against the Leafs.
“At the start of the game, I had trouble covering the gaps. I didn’t take part in a lot of practices and we didn’t take part in a lot of simulated zone entries, so it was difficult. But after that, once I found my bearings, it was fine. »