The Toronto Maple Leafs entered their matchup with the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday having scored on 10 of their last 17 opportunities with the man advantage. Arizona then handed them 7:42 of power-play time in the first period.
From that information alone, you can probably guess how the game went. Suffice it to say the Coyotes were unable to end the 10-game losing streak they brought into the contest as Toronto managed a 6-3 win.
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The Maple Leafs grabbed an early 3-0 lead on the strength of two power-play goals — and would’ve had another if a video review hadn’t revealed Max Lajoie was offside prior to the play. From that point on, Toronto had a few nervous moments, but it never lost the lead and the milestones took centre stage.
Auston Matthews became the fastest American-born skater in history to score 50 goals, securing that accomplishment in just 54 appearances. William Nylander locked in the third 30-goal campaign of his career by lighting the lamp for the fifth straight game. Mitch Marner quietly extended his multi-assist streak to five outings. John Tavares even got in on the action to bust his five-on-five scoring slump.
GO DEEPERAuston Matthews scores 50th goal (and 51st) of season in front of friends, family in ArizonaThree stars
1. Auston Matthews
The man of the hour deserves his due.
Matthews has been so consistent and clinical this season that it’s easy to get desensitized to his goal-scoring mastery. As Jonas Siegel pointed out on Monday, we are witnessing one of the best campaigns in NHL history. This isn’t business as usual for the league’s premier goal scorer or a development that it was fair to expect.
When Matthews joined the 60-goal club in 2021-22, it would’ve been reasonable to assume that would be his single-season peak. Barring a disastrous or injury-riddled stretch run, he’ll obliterate that career high soon enough.
His 50th goal demonstrated his growth as he scored from a spot near the goal line on the right side which has become a profitable area for him in 2023-24. For years, it was one of the few spots he rarely scored from.
AUSTON MATTHEWS 🚨
50 GOALS! pic.twitter.com/CZplSuVCSm
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 22, 2024
Even in 2021-22, he only scored once from that general area.
This season he’s already managed 10 goals from two regions in the top right of that picture above the goal line.
While his 50th was both historic and a perfect example of a meaningful trend, his 51st was just chaos —it had the distinction of being the game winner — and the 350th of his career.
AUSTON MATTHEWS 🚨🚨
51 off the shoulder! 350th career goal pic.twitter.com/VIRqBDe6J8
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 22, 2024
2. William Nylander
Understandably, Nylander hasn’t seen much of the spotlight in recent days with Matthews making a mockery of opposing goaltenders and Bobby McMann exceeding expectations by a ludicrous margin, but he’s now scored in five consecutive games.
Nylander has eight goals and 13 points in his last eight games and any notions about his sizable contract extension putting a damper on his drive have been quashed.
His first goal on Wednesday night didn’t require a world-class effort, but his second was more impressive as he jumped out of the box and scored on a breakaway.
WILLIAM NYLANDER 🚨🚨
From the box to the back of the net! pic.twitter.com/EFtFNMrwt7
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 22, 2024
Nylander was an offensive force all game, finishing with seven shots, a total he’s topped just twice this season.
3. Mitch Marner
There’s a case for a few guys in this slot, but Marner deserves it for his third three-assist outing in his last four games. The most impressive of his helpers came on Nylander’s first goal as he held onto the puck long enough to give the sniper an easy one.
WILLIAM NYLANDER 🚨
30th of the year! Wicked patience from Marner pic.twitter.com/HwNIDkYgny
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 22, 2024
His best play of the probably came later, though, as he sprung T.J. Brodie for a golden opportunity just before Matthews scored his second of the night.
starts with a nasty between-the-legs pass from Marner to Brodie pic.twitter.com/EA6n0Dtcew
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 22, 2024
Marner has a staggering 13 assists in his last five appearances, and nine of them are primary helpers. The uptick in his play lately is a big part of the Matthews story even if it’s not stealing the headlines.
Bobby McMann stays hot
Before Rielly got suspended, McMann was struggling to make a mark in a fourth-line role.
While his size, speed and shooting ability hinted at his capacity to give more than he’d shown, Maple Leafs fans could’ve been forgiven for wondering if the 27-year-old was capable of producing in the AHL but not at the highest level.
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In the last five games, McMann’s hit a new gear with seven goals and two helpers. For a little context, he managed two goals and six assists in the first 36 games of his NHL career.
McMann scored 45 goals in 97 AHL games between 2021-22 and 2023-24, so this offensive outburst didn’t come out of nowhere, but his rise from fourth-liner to PP2 participant skating alongside Tavares at five-on-five was impossible to foresee. The winger isn’t just in the middle of a scorching shooting stretch, either; he’s showing life all over the ice.
He averaged 1.78 hits per game at the NHL level before his recent heater and that number sits at 3.2 in his last five. He’s also managed more blocks during that stretch (7) than in the first 36 games of his career (5). Some of that is increased ice time, but McMann seems more engaged across the board.
Timothy Liljegren continues to step up
Liljegren’s role has grown more than any other player’s in Morgan Rielly’s absence, ascending to the team’s top defence pair and quarterbacking its PP1.
The Swede has made the most of that opportunity, consistently giving the Maple Leafs quality minutes and producing offensively with seven assists in the last five games.
Not only did he manage two helpers on Wednesday, he made several other winning plays that didn’t show up on the scoresheet. For example, late in the first period, his backchecking helped erase a dangerous opportunity for explosive rookie Logan Cooley.
Liljgren gets back and disrupts Logan Cooley pic.twitter.com/61HRVlBiUf
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 22, 2024
He emphatically shut down Cooley once again in the second frame.
Liljegren with another strong play on Cooley pic.twitter.com/fOjjCyC067
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 22, 2024
Although his on-ice numbers on Wednesday were nothing to write home about, the Maple Leafs have outshot their opponents 46-35 and outscored them 7-4 in Liljegren’s five-on-five minutes during Rielly’s suspension.
Tavares finally scores at five-on-five
The Maple Leafs captain dug himself out of a career-long point-less drought earlier in February, but he still entered Wednesday’s game without a goal at five-on-five since Dec. 11. While it’s not fair to compare Tavares to Matthews, to give his slump a little perspective, the NHL’s top scorer produced has 32 total goals between that game and the 33-year-old’s third-period marker on Wednesday.
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Although this situation is more of a statistical oddity than anything else, it’s not a good sign for Toronto that Tavares is capable of going approximately a third of a season without scoring in the game’s default state.
With the Maple Leafs experimenting with Tyler Bertuzzi on the top power-play unit, Tavares will need to up his five-on-five production to remain an important part of the team’s offence. It will almost certainly happen for a guy who entered Wednesday’s game ranked 12th among all skaters in individual expected goals at five-on-five (13.5), but there’s a difference between creating opportunities and converting on them.
Against the Coyotes, at least, he was able to convert.
JOHN TAVARES 🚨
TOP CORNER! pic.twitter.com/RWGUiCTaiP
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 22, 2024
Game Score
Final grade: B+
It’s tough to give this team too much credit for any victory against a Coyotes squad that entered Wednesday allowing twice as many goals (46) as it scored (23) over its previous 10 games without earning a single win.
The Maple Leafs were unimpressive at five-on-five early with an expected goal rate of just 32.07 percent through the first two periods. Without a bizarre bounce off Matthews, this one might’ve gotten dicey for Toronto.
At the same time, it’s tough to be too harsh on a 6-3 win that included so many notable moments. Toronto ultimately outclassed Arizona — even if that isn’t particularly difficult to do these days, the Leafs deserve some credit for it.
What’s next for the Leafs?
They head to Las Vegas to take on the Vegas Golden Knights at 10:00 pm on Thursday on TSN.
(Photo: Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)
