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TORONTO – Auston Matthews is chic for first impressions.
Whether it was his first NHL game, his first match after an injury, or how he and Mitch Marner made John Tavares his first months with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"Well, they're probably better than I thought," Tavares said after Matthews got rid of his rust and his detox to lead Toronto to a 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks.
Matthews had two goals to go with a primary badist and left you wondering if he could still pursue a 40-goal season after missing 14 games due to an injury to the left shoulder. Short answer: Not out of the question, since he scored 12 times in the 11 and a half games he has played so far.
Marner was pretty punchy, too.
He had three badists against the Sharks to bring his points total to 36 points, which puts him at the top of the pack. This allows him to score 100 goals in his third season in the NHL.
You could feel a trend from here.
"I think that just doing this every day, you understand and you understand more and more why they are special players and why they still have a lot more room to grow," said Tavares, who n & # 39; 39 has done nothing but fill the net since choosing to go home as a free agent. "I think they bring a lot of energy to the band and, for a guy like me, who is a bit too serious sometimes, it helps me.
"These are just extremely talented hockey players and you can see how great they want to be."
They are already there – like the Leafs, who are now at the second best start in franchise history with 18 wins in 26 games.
See Matthews back in the fold was a moment of affirmation in an enchanted season. He received a warm ovation when he took the ice for his first shift and froze the killers Sharks penalty to offer Tavares a goal in his second.
Matthews was in a prime position to launch his precise shot, slipping into the left circle after a pbad in Marner's seam, but instead chose to drag it to Tavares. When he was faced with the same situation during a power play in the second period, he buried a reporter on Aaron Dell goalkeeper San Jose.
"You trust his instinct and you just try to be ready," Tavares said. "Of course you can see that the second time, he has again made a very good choice."
What made the performance even more impressive was what Matthews felt.
What is unusual is that he jumped a few pucks early, which was quite understandable in his first match since being sent to the coaches table on Oct. 27 by a shocking check from Jacob Trouba, Winnipeg.
There is no way to reproduce the speed and intensity of a match when you treat an injury for such a long time, no matter how many roller skates you have.
"The first period, you just had energy. The kind of emotions and other things, "said Matthews. "After the first, I felt very bad. The second period was not very pleasant. And then I think that during the third period, I had a little legs under me and I skated a bit more.
Mike Babbad made an interesting use of his No. 1 center against the Sharks – offering an indication of what would happen when Matthews got up fast (and if William Nylander signed a new contract before Saturday's deadline). By placing Andreas Johnsson next to Matthews and Kasperi Kapanen, he indicated his willingness to start establishing C-RW pairs with the idea of possibly rotating his left-hand members on each of the lines, if necessary.
Normally, we would have expected Babbad to return to a Patrick Marleau – Matthews – Kapanen line since that was what was in place when Matthews was injured. But the veteran coach has studied this group of depth fronts and feels more comfortable with the idea of mixing and matching.
"I think we'll have more rotation once we find everyone, as well as Willy," he said. "You will see more rotation simply because it does not really matter, if it makes sense."
It will have an integrated comfort with Matthews-Nylander, Tavares-Marner, Kadri-Kapanen and By Lindholm-Connor Brown, which form the basis of each line. Johnsson, Zach Hyman, Marleau and Tyler Ennis / Josh Leivo can free themselves on the left.
"I think you look up and down our lineup, no matter what line you're on," Matthews said. "You're going to play with guys who are skilled, who work hard, who can play games, chances to finish. I mean, it was my first night with Johnny and he's a fast guy, he's good, he sees the room. His level of tenacity is very high.
"So obviously Kappy, we are familiar since the beginning of the year. I think if we keep playing together, we'll get better and better. "
It was always the offensive depth of this team that separated her from the others. They are tied for first place in the NHL, while they spent the entire season without Nylander and more than half without Matthews.
"Sending it just adds more firepower to this team. He's a special player, "said Marner. "When he comes back, I think he's putting extra pressure on the coaching staff of the other teams to find out what they want to do on the ice. Try to match and see what they want. "
Even at just under 100%, Matthews managed a three-point night against the Sharks. He scored in each of the three games where he had returned from an injury last season, but was reluctant to talk about trend.
"I try to score every night," Matthews said. "I think it's just a coincidence."
This is one of those coincidences that we never cease to notice.
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