Auston Matthews denied 70th goal as depleted Leafs lose last regular-season game
If you tuned in Wednesday to see some scoring history in Tampa Bay, it was Nikita Kucherov, not Auston Matthews, who delivered. Matthews’ wondrous season, an eight-game goal streak before being blanked the past 48 hours, earned the 26-year-old his second Rocket Richard Trophy, but one shy of 70 goals. It was not for lack of trying. Twelve shots on goal, 17 attempts, a dinged crossbar that came during one of four power plays, a couple of delayed-penalty 6-on-5 situations and Martin Jones pulled with three minutes to go, failed to make Matthews just the ninth NHLer to reach 70, the first in 31 years. His parents, Brian and Ema, and a number of Leafs fans were in the house pulling for the milestone. By the time he met the media, Matthews was getting over his disappointment of being stalled at 69 and steeling himself for what will be a first-round series with enormous pressure on him and fellow Core Four Leafs. “I wanted (70) for sure, but it just wasn’t meant to be,” he said. “You wanted to get out (of Wednesday) healthy first and foremost. You turn the page. The most important thing is the team and the team’s success, making sure I’m pulling my weight and doing everything I can to help it win. That’s where my mind’s been all year. “It’s nice to have the (support) of teammates, the organization and the fans (in the chase for the milestone). It definitely means a lot. But now heading into the post-season, this is where we want to have our success and make sure we’re elevating our game. Myself, I want to take another step.” Kucherov collected his 100th assist as part of a three-goal Lightning second period that helped build its five-goal lead. Those breakdowns did get under Matthews’ skin. “The second (period) wasn’t good enough in our end, definitely not how we want be playing going into the post-season,” he said. “I don’t think we can just think we’re going to just turn it on come Saturday. But the third (three late Toronto goals) showed signs of life and playing to the final whistle.” “Now it’s the important part of the season and we turn our focus to Boston.” Until the second period it seemed Kucherov might be denied, too. On an earlier power play, Jones made a huge save on Brayden Point that would’ve been his 100th helper, while Steve Stamkos hit the post on another feed. But the Leafs kept playing with fire. When Connor Timmins over-reacted after a crease scrum with Matt Dumba and got an extra two, Kucherov set up Point in the slot and the extended home celebration began. McDavid and Kucherov getting to triple figures became the first duo since Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux in 1988-89. Matthews’ close calls included his 20th post/crossbar, an unofficial league record. He had seven shots in the first period alone with Lightning backup Matt Tomkins coming up as big as Andrei Vasilevskiy. Matthews, without Max Domi on his line the past couple of games, ended the ‘23-24 campaign with 107 points. Before the game, Tampa coach Jon Cooper said the fan in him wanted both Kucherov and Matthews to get their milestones. “If (Matthews does it), I’ll take solace that 69 times before that, no one else could stop him,” the coach said. Kucherov changed the narrative by scoring in the first period to increase his lead in the Art Ross Trophy race on McDavid who was playing out the schedule in Arizona. When Matthews didn’t get 70 the night before in Sunrise, Fla., it became hard for Sheldon Keefe to sit him out for playoff purposes. In case you’ve been on Mars the past few weeks, Matthews was attempting to hit 70 for the first time since Teemu Selanne and Alex Mogilny each had 76 in the much more scorer-friendly NHL of the 1992-93 season. “The reality is for me, the 70 thing aside, Auston is playing good and feeling good,” Keefe told reporters before the game. “If we had more guys to sit or rest, he probably wouldn’t even be at the top of the list. In terms of Auston, there was not really much of a discussion there.” Three ailing forwards legitimately needed recovery time for Game 1 — Domi (undisclosed), Bobby McMann (lower body) and Calle Jarnkrok (hand) — were in the stands Wednesday, with Keefe listing the trio as “possibilities” to play Game 1. Defencemen Morgan Rielly, Jake McCabe and Joel Edmundson didn’t play in Tampa, replaced by Tuesday scratches Mark Giordano, Timmins and Brodie. Keefe did make a change in net, activating little-used No. 3 goalie Martin Jones so that Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll can be fully ready for Saturday. Samsonov is the expected starter. Jones got little help from a clearly distracted team, the forwards all on a back-to-back and already looking ahead to Boston. Brodie, ending a 111-game drought, Pontus Homberg and John Tavares had late Leafs goals. Among the poor attention to detail were Tyler Bertuzzi dropping a puck meant for Matthews that became Nick Paul’s opening goal, and a breakaway for Brandon Hagel after William Nylander chose not to play a puck off a Toronto high stick, allowing Calvin de Haan to wait for the Leafs to leave open ice for Hagel. Also down to a minimal lineup because of injuries, most of which came after they’d clinched a wild-card spot, Cooper had to lean on Kucherov, Point and Stamkos. Lhornby@postmedia.com
