Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) shoots the puck against Nashville Predators defenseman Nick Blankenburg (37). (Credit: IMAGN)
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews addressed the team’s recent inconsistent results. The Leafs have five wins and six losses in their last 11 games in March. Speaking to reporters after the 5-2 defeat to the Nashville Predators on Saturday, Matthews said:
“The inconsistencies aren’t ideal, especially at this time of year. When we have a bad outing, string together a couple of good games, and then have another letdown like this, it’s on us to make sure we’re consistent no matter the situation.”
The Leafs led the game 2-0 before allowing the Predators to bounce back with five goals on the trot. Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube opened up about the team’s struggles with stringing together wins.
“I haven’t seen the mental mistakes like we made tonight in a while,” Berube said via NHL. “So we’ll look at it, we’ll discuss it with our team and go over things. And we’ll go over how we looked in the first period, too. Like I said, it’s a flip of the switch there for me.”.
Before Saturday’s loss, the Toronto Maple Leafs had been on a three-game winning streak. They had narrowly edged the New York Rangers 4-3 in a thrilling encounter on Thursday, after which Berube had declared that he had found his best lineup for the playoffs.
The Leafs are tied with the Florida Panthers for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Auston Matthews has been plagued by injuries, a scoring slump this season
Auston Matthews has recorded 27 goals and 36 assists for 63 points in 55 games this season. He has also missed over 10 games due to injury. It’s a far cry from last season when he had 107 points, including 69 goals and 38 assists.
Matthews had also been in a goal-scoring slump from January till the middle of March, recording three goals in 18 games.
Toronto Star columnist Dave Feschuk commented on Matthews’ poor run of form during TSN’s “First Up with Korolnek & Colaiacovo” podcast on March 11.
“We’ve never seen anything like this from a guy that we just got to expect to be the world’s best goal scorer,” Feschuk said. “And before this season, he was the world’s best goal scorer without any debate. It’s hard to know what to make. Just not the same guy.”
Matthews seemed to have regained his scoring form with three points during the Leafs’ 6-2 win against the Calgary Flames on March 17. However, he did not have any points in the Leafs’ win over the Rangers three days later.