Mike Bossy and Mario Lemieux. That鈥檚 the extent of the list of players who rank ahead of Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews in in the modern era.
Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy. Those are the two players atop the聽
And where does Matthews sit on that esteemed list? Spoiler alert: It鈥檚 not third. That鈥檇 be Barry Pederson. It鈥檚 not fourth, fifth nor sixth. That鈥檚 Maurice Richard, Cam Neely and Wayne Gretzky.
Matthews does not rank first among active players. That鈥檇 be Nathan MacKinnon.
He does not rank first among historic Leafs:聽Rick Vaive.
He does not rank first among active Leafs:聽William Nylander.
Matthews is tied for 81st in career goals per game in the playoffs, according to . And don’t get it wrong, that still puts him in fine company. Sidney Crosby ranks 66th. Matthews is tied with Carter Verhaeghe, the former Leafs draft pick who is the all-time playoff goal-scoring leader for Toronto’s current opponent, the Florida Panthers. The likes of Patrick Kane, Brad Marchand and Nikita Kucherov rank behind Matthews.
Still, none of those players have shown Matthews鈥檚 talent for beating goaltenders in the regular season. So what’s jarring is the playoff fall-off. Through his award-laden career, Matthews has scored at a 52-goal pace in the 82-game regular season. His career playoff numbers extrapolate to a 31-goal pace. Alex Ovechkin, the NHL鈥檚 all-time leader in goals who at times has been accused of playoff underperformance, has scored at a 49-goal pace during the regular season and a 39-goal pace in the post-season.
For all that, it might be worth rethinking one of Leafland鈥檚 most common assumptions: the idea that Matthews has a mere two goals in 10 playoff games this spring because he is nursing an injury. It鈥檚 true that he scored a career-low 33 goals during a regular season that saw him miss 15 games to injury. It鈥檚 true he has taken off more than one playoff practice to rest.
For all that, Matthews scored at a 42-goal pace in March and April of the regular season, when there was buzz around the team that he was returning to full health. And in the playoffs he鈥檚 been playing well on most other fronts. What kind of injury would allow Matthews to win a career-high 57.4 per cent of his playoff faceoffs, earn praise from head coach Craig Berube for his 200-foot defensive prowess and yet somehow leave him bereft of his greatest gift?
Anything possible, and nobody but Matthews truly knows. But here’s a truth: Everybody hurts in the NHL playoffs, not everybody scores. And Matthews not scoring is not a new story. (Neither is Mitch Marner not producing at this time of year. And after going without a shot on goal in Games 3 and 4 against the Panthers, Berube offered a piece of advice: 鈥淧ut more pucks to the net.鈥)
Not that Matthews hasn鈥檛 enjoyed some prolific runs. In his playoff debut in 2017, he scored four goals in six games against the Washington Capitals. He scored five in seven games against the Boston Bruins in 2019, and five in six games in Toronto鈥檚 first-round series win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2023.
He has also slogged through post-seasons even drier than this one. Matthews has two goals in 10 games in these playoffs. He had one in five games last spring against the Bruins. In 2021 against Montreal he scored one goal in seven games. He had one goal in seven games against the Bruins in 2018. That鈥檚 four of nine career playoff runs in which he has put up a goal-scoring rate lower than his playoff average of .385 per game.
鈥淚t’s not all about scoring,鈥 Berube told reporters Monday. 鈥淗e’s out there killing penalties. He’s going against top lines. He’s checking, working, competing.鈥
It鈥檚 understandable why a coach would provide cover for his captain. If Matthews were a defensive liability and a slumping sniper, that鈥檇 be a real problem. But there鈥檚 a reason Matthews is the highest-paid player in the sport, and it isn鈥檛 defensive conscientiousness. He gets paid the most largely because he scores the most聽鈥 in the regular season. The Leafs are built around the assumption of his production. His lack thereof in the playoffs can鈥檛 be separated from the team鈥檚 history of post-season shortfall.
鈥淵eah, we’d like him to score and so would he,鈥 Berube said. 鈥淚t’s not easy to score in the playoffs.鈥
It鈥檚 not easy, indeed. Matthews has reminded us of that maybe more often than any other player. The upside of the current situation is this: The Leafs-Panthers series is tied despite Matthews going goal-less in the second round. Game 5 goes Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena, which means there鈥檚 still time to send the historical trend in a more flattering direction.
“Big goal’s coming,鈥 Berube said of Matthews. 鈥淭hat’s the way you’ve got to think about it. So I’m not overly worried about it.”
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