We’re currently on Auston Matthews watch, as he is –><– that close to beating the Toronto Maple Leafs all time record of 54 goals in a season. With a hat-trick in last night’s 6-2 against the Tampa Bay Lightning he tied the record, giving him 12 games to take full ownership of the feat.
I sincerely hope he does it tonight and this streak that he and linemate, Mitch Marner, are on continues deep into the playoffs.
Erik Kallgren starts tonight and the hope is the team can play as well in front of him as they did in front of Jack Campbell last night. They were terrific and they’ll need to be again in order to hold back the high scoring Florida Panthers.
Jake Muzzin returns to action and will have a dozen games to get up to speed before the playoffs begin. They’ll need him at 100% if they want to do any damage in the post season, so all eyes will be on him, with the hope that he can be as effective after a little time off as Jack Campbell has been.
While I’m happy to see the return of Jake Muzzin, taking Ilya Lyubushkin out of the lineup makes zero sense. The easy decision here is Justin Holl, who seems to make poor decisions every time he touches the puck. I’m not sure why this management group is so committed to Holl, but he’s clearly not part of the 6 best defenders in this organization in my opinion.
Enjoy the game.
GO LEAFS GO!!