The 2023-24 NHL season has been one to remember, with the high level of points produced by key players such as Nathan MacKinnon and Nikita Kucharov. As goalies have gotten bigger and better, it hasn’t been as easy to score and accumulate record-breaking points.
Scoring that many goals in that era is impressive, but as the goalies have gotten better and bigger, the goals have not been as easy to score as it was back in the day.
Since 1996 and heading into this season, there have only been 5 players who scored 60+ goals in a season. Alexander Ovechkin (65, 2007-08), Steven Stamkos (60, 2011-12), Auston Matthews (60, 2021-22), David Pastrnak (61, 2022-23), and Connor McDavid (64, 2022-23).
Heading into this season, the bar seemed to be raised at 60, but Auston Matthews decided to LeapFrog that bar. In 79 games played this season, Matthews has scored 69 goals, tying Mario Lemieux’s 69-goal season back in 1995-96. With two games left to play in the regular season, Matthews needs only one more goal to hit 70. The last time there was a 70+ goal scorer in the National Hockey League was in 1992-93 when Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny each netted 76 goals during the campaign.
With two games left to play on the road against the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning, and one goal away from 70, should the Toronto Maple Leafs rest or play Matthews?
The Leafs are going to play either the Boston Bruins depending on how their game versus Washington pans out, or the Florida Panthers in the first round of the playoffs.
Considering the Leafs can neither pass third in the division nor overtaken, they have nothing to play for. That also goes with the Florida Panthers with their second spot unless the Bruins lose their next two games.
The Florida Panthers versus the Toronto Maple Leafs seems to be the series we will get to see. With Toronto playing Florida in their second-last game of the season, in a game that does not mean anything regarding the standings, should they play Matthews in that game?
No, they should not. Saturday night’s contest between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs was Matthews’ last chance at scoring 70. The final home game of the season went into overtime who else but number 34 to get the overtime winner and hit 70? That unfortunately didn’t happen.
The expression on Matthew’s face after the overtime winner on the bench seems to indicate his chances of hitting 70 have now gone to zero. His facial expression showed that he knows he will not be playing in games 81 and 82.
If I were Sheldon Keefe, I would rest Matthews on this Florida road trip. The Florida Panthers have nothing to play for in this game against Toronto as they are locked into the second seed of the Atlantic division. If Matthews plays in that game on Tuesday against Florida, they are going to do everything in their power to increase their chances of winning the series by injuring him.
There’s already bad blood between these teams after last year’s 2022-2023 second-round matchup. With the players Florida has on their team, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some shenanigans play out in this game.
The next night they have to go into Tampa and play the Tampa Bay Lightning who they eliminated in the first round last year to win their first series since 2004. Don’t you think the Lightning remembers that? The Tampa Bay Lightning is the team that got eliminated by the Toronto Maple Leafs to win their first series since 2004.
Both the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning know that if they can get Matthews under 100% healthy, they have a better chance of winning the series against the Leafs.
Sheldon Keefe has a very tough decision to make as the fans would love to see Matthews reach 70 goals, but what is more important, having Matthews score 70 could potentially be a target in the last two games of the season, or you rest him as he gets into the playoffs 100% healthy to go and chase the Stanley Cup and bring it back home to Toronto for the first time since 1967?
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