Auston Matthews had been dealing with an undisclosed injury that had been bothering all season when he took a two-game absence from game action last week.
Perhaps all he needed was a break.
"I think it was good to physically reset, mentally, everything," Matthews said after scoring twice in a 4-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. "It's no secret that's a bit of a grind during the regular season and sometimes some rest can go a long way."
Since missing games against the Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings last week, the 25-year-old Matthews looks like his goal-scoring self. He has goals in each of the three games he has played since the time off and it wasn't just that he scored twice against the Jets, it's that he scored them in vintage Matthews fashion.
He beat them with his shot.
With his team happy to escape the first period tied 0-0 after surrendering 16 shots on goal, Matthews needed just eight seconds into the next period to make a move. He moved the puck past Winnipeg's Mark Scheifele's legs before shooting the puck through Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.
Later in the period, Matthews received a pass in the slot area from Michael Bunting and used his quick release to put the puck past Hellebuyck and at the top of the net.
Bunting's pass was perfectly placed as it was through traffic, but refused to take any credit.
"To be honest, I told him I really didn't do much there other than to give him a little chip and he did the rest," Bunting said of Matthews.
The two-goal performance put Matthews into a tie for first for the team lead in goals (24) with William Nylander. It’s the first time since the second game of the season that Matthews found himself on top of that stat category and he had one goal then and was tried with five other players.
Not what you come to expect from the two-time defending Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard Trophy winner (NHL goal-scoring leader) and reigning Hart Trophy winner (NHL’s most valuable player).
And it’s not like he hadn’t had his chances.
He was still getting his scoring chances, but he wasn’t converting. Maybe whatever injury he had been dealing with (still undisclosed) could have been a factor.
"I think it's touch and it's feel, too," Matthews explained. "I've had a lot of similar looks this year, I think, and I've just been off a little bit as far as accuracy goes.
"But when I'm on top of my game, I'm moving my feet well on both sides of the puck and just creating on both sides."
The Arizona native has talked at times about adding some elements of his game outside of just generating offense. Early in the season, there was that emphasis on hitting more. But there's been a team focus on playing better defensively.
Matthews exhibited some of that when he blocked Jets forward Morgan Barron's shot in the third period while trying to protect Toronto's 3-1 lead.
"He's a guy that has come alive for us with his 200-foot game," Mitch Marner said of Matthews. "He eats a lot of pucks more than people think, it was a great block by him."
It was only fitting that minutes after the game was over, Matthews was voted in to his sixth NHL All-Star game. With the format changing and Marner being named on the first-round of entries, Matthews' inclusion wasn't a slam dunk. Many Leafs fans felt Nylander was just as deserving in a season where he has scored 24 goals and 27 assists.
But Matthews is on a heater now and is ramping up at the right. He is an NHL All-Star and most importantly for Maple Leafs fans, he looks like himself again.
"That's a good team on the other side pushing hard and not making it easy on us," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "But, yeah, Auston took over."
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January 20, 2023 at 08:00PM
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The Injury Break has Done Auston Matthews Some Good as Maple Leafs’ All-Star Looks Like Himself Again - Sports Illustrated
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