Heading into Game 2 in TD Garden, the Toronto Maple Leafs knew they needed to win this game to get back in this series. They needed to lean on the core of their team, the leaders in their forward core. Their ask was answered by the best goal scorer in the league as Auston Matthews took over Game 2 and was the biggest reason why Toronto is leaving Boston with a 1-1 split heading back home for their game in Toronto on Wednesday.
Matthews Gave a Performance for the Ages
Since his first playoff game back in 2017, Matthews has had very few dominant playoff games. Some that come to mind are Game 4 against Tampa Bay in 2023, where he helped Toronto mount an enormous comeback against the Lightning, and Game 6 against the Lightning, where the Leafs finally won their first playoff series since 2004. But Matthews went quiet in the second-round series against Florida, as he did not score a single goal in the five-game series. He needed to show up in this series, and he did in Game 2.
Matthews asserted his dominance on Tuesday and was influential on all three Toronto goals, as he recorded a primary assist on Max Domi’s goal that tied the game shortly after the Bruins took a 1-0 lead. He recorded another assist on John Tavares’ power-play goal that tied the game up 2-2. And he finally gave the Leafs the lead by scoring a goal of his own on a breakaway with one of the filthiest moves we have seen in a shooter vs. goaltender situation in these playoffs.
Even outside of his three points, Matthews was effective in ways that won’t show up on the morning highlights. Namely when he found a loose puck behind goaltender Ilya Samsonov and smothered the disk into his goalie’s pads to get a whistle in the final moments of the third period. Without that play and Matthews’ spacial awareness, David Pastrnak was right on the doorstep and could have sent the game to overtime.
Matthews’ Line Was the Best in the Game
With Matthews leading the charge for the Leafs’ offence, he needed players that could help him in Toronto’s quest for victory. He got that help with his two linemates Max Domi and Tyler Bertuzzi. This is a relatively new line, as they were just put together within the last month by head coach Sheldon Keefe, but Domi and Bertuzzi were instrumental in the Leafs’ success in Game 2.
On Domi’s opening goal, Matthews hit the crossbar, and with the puck in front of Linus Ullmark, Bertuzzi tied up his defender in front of the net, giving Domi a wide-open net to shoot on with no one near him to stop him. On the final goal of the game, Matthews scored a stupendous breakaway goal, but that tally would not have happened without the alley-oop pass from Domi that was sent perfectly to Matthews. He was able to go up and catch the puck like he was David Tyree in Super Bowl 42.
This Must Continue for the Leafs To Win the Series
If the Leafs want to win this series, they will need more of these performances from Matthews and his linemates. There have been too many times in past playoff series that Matthews has given the Leafs a spectacular playoff performance and then gets shut down completely in the following game or games. If Toronto finally wants to beat this playoff monster that they have known as the Bruins, they will need Matthews to be as good as he was in Game 2 for the rest of the series. He’s an elite player and has shown how elite he is time and time again in the regular season. It’s now time for him to not just be a great player but be the best player in this series.
Matthews’ Game 2 performance was a statement from the former first-overall pick, but the job is far from over. If he can play this way for the rest of the series, the Leafs may finally slay the Bruins.