If home is where the hearth is, Auston Matthews now has a red goal light over his Bay St. fireplace.
Not only did he score his first of the year in Thursday night’s 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings, it made him the fourth Leaf in team history to get 200 home goals and first solely in the Air Canada Centre-Scotiabank Arena era. The others were Darryl Sittler (231), Dave Keon (225) and Mats Sundin (217), who began his run when Toronto still played out of Maple Leaf Gardens.
Since being drafted first overall in 2016, Matthews’ No. 34 sweaters have been part of the seat upholstery, from the posh platinums to the nosebleeds in the purples.
Matthews also become the 11th active NHLer to notch 200 home goals and outpaced each of those players by reaching the mark in 279 games, including Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, who needed 321 appearances.
Matthews also moved up to 369 career goals, putting him 20 back of Sittler for second place in franchise history.
BLUE BLOODS ON KINGS
The Kings still have a strong Toronto feel to them.
Trevor Moore was their leading goal-scorer last year, a Leaf first back in 2018-19 when the southern Californian replaced another when Matthews was injured. Winger Alex Leferriere was once a Toronto draft choice traded in the package for Jack Campbell and Kyle Clifford, while goalie David Rittich played three games on his way through town in 2021. Rittich didn’t finish Thursday’s game, pulled after four goals for Pheonix Copley.
Kings coach Jim Hiller was on Mike Babcock’s staff in Toronto and was with Barry Trotz and the Islanders before Trotz and he were both let go when current Leaf assistant Lane Lambert became New York’s head coach. Hiller’s associate is D.J. Smith, a former Leaf player and assistant.
HE CAN KOPE
Toronto coach Craig Berube is more familiar than most Leafs with Kings captain Anze Kopitar from years coaching against him with St. Louis. Kopitar is coming up on 1,400 NHL games, all with the Kings.
“Just a great two-way player,” Berube said in praise. “It seems game in and game out, he’s the same. Great defensively, size. Not overly fast, but fast enough. He has the ability to finish and to make plays. He’s been in every key situation for them for years.”
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HELPING HANDS
Goaltender Anthony Stolarz, defenceman Chris Tanev and winger Nick Robertson all helped serve dinners at Covenant House on Thanksgiving Monday. The residence is the largest agency in Canada serving youth who are homeless, trafficked or at risk.
“It was exciting, first to be able to give back to the community,” Stolarz said. “I heard it’s nine or 10 years that the Leafs have been doing that at Covenant House. To be able to help out and spread some holiday joy was a lot of fun.
“A lot of people were asking questions. There were a couple of goalies in the house. I was able to pick their brain, they were able to pick mine.”
LOOSE LEAFS
Until William Nylander’s power-play goal, the Leafs hadn’t gone the first four games without a man-advantage tally since 1981-82 … Four different Leaf defencemen took minor penalties on Thursday … Stolarz made 24 saves before Alex Turcotte beat him early in the third … Bobby McMann was in the hunt for a hat trick, trying to be the first Leaf other than Matthews to get three-goal games in the same calendar year of the past decade … In addition to Jake McCabe engineering a couple of nice assists, he hit Kings winger Andre Lee hard enough to pop the gate open in front of the Leaf tunnel … The Garson Community Centre and Arena in Greater Sudbury has been renamed for late Leaf star George Armstrong. A ribbon-cutting ceremony with Sudbury native Joe Bowen as MC takes place Thursday afternoon … Max Domi was being asked before the game how many of his father Tie’s fights he watches. It was 29 years ago Thursday that Tie got eight games for his sucker-punch of Ranger Ulf Samuelsson at the Gardens.
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