The Maple Leafs didn’t give themselves much of a chance without their captain on Saturday night.
As Auston Matthews nursed his upper-body injury after aggravating it in Buffalo 24 hours earlier, the Leafs weren’t sharp at home against the New York Islanders, losing 6-3 to a non-playoff team that wanted it more.
Our takeaways from what was just the Leafs’ fifth loss in 19 games in 2024-25 at Scotiabank Arena:
MISSING MATTHEWS
All due respect to David Kampf and his nifty assist to set up William Nylander’s second goal, but he’s no Matthews.
No one with the Leafs is, especially in that No. 1 centre spot.
After the game, coach Craig Berube implied that we won’t see Matthews until after the Christmas break. A couple of hours before the opening faceoff, Berube said whether Matthews plays on Monday at home against the Winnipeg Jets would be decided on Sunday.
In his post-game availability, Berube was asked about his level concern with the Matthews injury that won’t go away.
“I’m not a doctor,” Berube said. “I can’t answer that question. I’m hoping with the break coming up, he can get some relief, feel better, be ready to go, recharge. That’s really all I can say about it.”
So perhaps don’t count on watching Matthews on Monday afternoon.
To keep him out would be the right call. Matthews hasn’t turned the corner on this yet, obviously, and there’s no reason to possibly further complicate the issue by having him in the lineup for the Jets’ only visit of the regular season.
The injury has been lingering and caused Matthews to miss nine games in November, during which the Leafs won seven and lost two.
In 24 games, Matthews has 11 goals and 12 assists. He hasn’t played with the kind of authority that has been such a significant factor in his game in the past.
“He is just doing everything he can to help this team,” John Tavares said after the game. “That’s his main goal each day, wanting to be at his best, to be a driver, be a difference-maker, an elite player and the leader that he is.
“I know it’s very tough on him to miss games and he does everything on a daily basis to prepare himself not only to play at the highest level, but be healthy. He will continue to do everything he needs to do to get back as soon as possible.”
We wonder when we will see the best version of Matthews again. Somehow, the Leafs and their medical staff have to find a way to get on the right side of the injury.
NO EXCUSES
Never mind trying to reason that since the Leafs played in Buffalo the night before and Islanders were rested, the home side was going to be flat to start the game.
It would be letting the players off the hook. The way we saw it from the press box, the way you saw it from your seats in the rink or on TV, and the way Berube saw it were about the same.
The Leafs were down 2-0 before the game was five minutes old and Berube called a timeout, but his players never responded properly, start to finish.
“They were on their toes better,” Berube said. “We weren’t very smart. I get that they are rested and they are going to be a little more quicker, but we have to play smarter than that.
“We can’t give them freebies. We gave them two freebies right away and got behind and it wasn’t a good game.”
That’s not the way the Leafs have played, for the most part, in Berube’s first season behind the bench. And they were 4-2-1 in the second game of back-to-back sets prior to Saturday.
Was Berube surprised that his team collectively didn’t have their heads in it?
“A little, yeah,” Berube said.
Berube couldn’t get into a rhythm behind the bench either, mixing up the top three lines during the game as well as the defence pairs.
Nothing worked. Ahead 3-2 after two periods, the Islanders closed the Leafs out with three goals in the third.
“On nights when maybe your legs are a little slow to get to get going, we have to do a better job of how we manage that and work our way through it and not put ourselves in the position we were in after one,” Tavares said. “Any time you’re missing Auston, you miss him every single night. It’s on everyone to step up a little bit, no one replaces him. You go out there and do the job as a group.”
The Leafs didn’t approach that at any point through the night. A similar effort on Monday against the Jets and they’ll be bound to head into the break with consecutive losses.
WILLIE’S GOALS PILE UP
With Matthews either on the sideline or not scoring with his usual regularity, Nylander is doing more than his part to make up the balance.
In recording his fifth two-goal game, Nylander sits at 23 goals in 34 games.
That’s a 55-goal pace in 82 games, and if Nylander can keep it up, he’ll easily squash his personal high in one NHL season. He scored a career-high 40 two years ago and equalled that in 2023-24.
He has thrust himself into the Rocket Richard conversation, and is one goal behind Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, who leads the NHL with 24.
Following the loss, Nylander had no interest in talking about the goal race, saying it’s not what he is thinking about.
We’ll say it for him. There’s no reason why, barring injury, Nylander should not keep himself in contention.
Few players in the NHL control the puck like Nylander, and there was more evidence on his first goal when he patiently hung onto it and beat Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin in the first period with a backhand that was reminiscent of Mats Sundin.
Nylander was one of the few Leafs to have his legs, and led Toronto with seven shots on goal.
“He’s been a good player for a long time, hasn’t he?” Berube said. “I thought Willie was skating early in the game and had good jump. He wants the puck and he wants to make things happen with it. He’s motivated.”
Leave to the cool Nylander to come up with the best post-game sound bite, not that it could be used on air.
What was Berube’s message when he called a timeout after the second Islanders goal?
“Just wake the f—- up,” Nylander said.
X: @koshtorontosun