TORONTO — Auston Matthews has a knack for first impressions.
Whether it be his first NHL game, his first game back from injury or the way he and Mitch Marner have made John Tavares feel about his first couple months with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“Well they’re probably better than I thought,” Tavares said after Matthews shook off a month’s worth of rust and rehab to lead Toronto to a 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks.
Matthews had two goals to go with a primary assist and left you wondering if he might still chase a 40-goal season after missing 14 games due to a left shoulder injury. Short answer: Not out of the question, given that he’s scored 12 times in the 11-and-a-half games he’s played so far.
Marner was pretty impactful, too.
He had a ho-hum three helpers against the Sharks to boost his team-leading point total to 36. That puts him well on pace to crack 100 in his third NHL season.
You might sense a trend starting here.
“I think just being around it every day, you understand and you learn more and more why they’re special players and why they still have so much more room to grow,” said Tavares, who has done nothing but fill the net since choosing to come home as a free agent. “I think they bring a lot of energy to the group and, for a guy like me, whose a little bit too serious sometimes, it helps me out.
“They’re just extremely talented hockey players and you can see how bad they want to be great.”
They’re already there — just like the Leafs, who are now off to the second-best start in franchise history with 18 wins through 26 games.
Seeing Matthews back in the fold was an affirming moment in a charmed season. He received a hearty ovation when he took the ice for his first shift and froze the Sharks penalty killers to gift Tavares a goal during his second one.
Matthews was in prime position to unleash his pinpoint shot, gliding into the left circle after taking a pass through the seam from Marner, but chose instead to slide it over to Tavares. When he faced the exact same situation on a second-period power play, he buried a wrister over San Jose goalie Aaron Dell.
“You trust his instincts and you just try to be ready,” said Tavares. “You can obviously see the second time around he made a pretty good choice again.”
What made the performance even more impressive was how Matthews felt.
Uncharacteristically, he bobbled a few pucks in the early going — completely understandable in his first game since being sent to the trainer’s table on Oct. 27 by a jarring check from Winnipeg’s Jacob Trouba.
There’s no way to mimic the speed and intensity of a game when you’re rehabbing an injury for that length of time, no matter how many bag skates you subject yourself to.
“The first period, you’ve just kind of got the energy. Kind of the emotions and stuff,” said Matthews. “After the first, I felt terrible. The second period didn’t feel too good. And then I think the third period I kind of got my legs under me and was skating out there a little bit more.”
Mike Babcock made interesting use of his No. 1 centre against the Sharks — offering a hint of what’s to come when Matthews gets up to full speed (and if William Nylander signs a new contract before Saturday’s deadline). By putting Andreas Johnsson beside Matthews and Kasperi Kapanen, he indicated a willingness to start establishing C-RW pairs with the idea of eventually being able to rotate his left-wingers through each of the lines, as needed.
Normally, we might have expected Babcock to go back to a Patrick Marleau–Matthews–Kapanen line since that’s what was in place when Matthews got injured. But the veteran coach has surveyed this deep group of forwards and is feeling more comfortable with the idea of mixing and matching.
“I think you’ll see more rotation once we get everyone back and Willy, too,” he said. “You’ll see more rotation just because it doesn’t really matter as much, if that makes any sense.”
He’ll have built-in comfort with Matthews-Nylander, Tavares-Marner, Kadri-Kapanen and Par Lindholm-Connor Brown forming the foundations of each line. Johnsson, Zach Hyman, Marleau and Tyler Ennis/Josh Leivo can slot in on the left.
“I think you look up and down our lineup, it doesn’t really matter what line you’re on,” said Matthews. “You’re going to play with guys that are skilled, work hard, that can make plays, finish chances. I mean, tonight was my first night I played with Johnny and he’s a speedy guy, he’s skilled, he sees the play. His tenacity level is very high.
“Then obviously Kappy, we’ve been familiar from the start of the year. I think as we continue to play together we’ll just get better and better.”
It was always going to be the offensive depth of this team that separated it from the rest. They are tied for first overall in the NHL despite playing the entire season so far without Nylander and more than half of it without Matthews.
“Adding him back just adds more firepower to this team. He’s a special player,” said Marner. “When he comes back I think he just adds a lot of pressure to the other teams’ coaching staff to try and figure out what they want to do on the ice. Trying to match up and see what they want.”
Even at something less than 100 per cent, Matthews managed a three-point night against the Sharks. He scored in each of the three games where he returned from injury last season but was reluctant to call it a trend.
“I try to score every night,” said Matthews. “I think it’s just coincidence.”
It’s one of those coincidences we just keep seeing again and again.
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