Auston Matthews was two minutes away from emerging unscathed, engineering one of his best performances of the regular season. It was a two-point night for the Toronto Maple Leafs’ captain, where he seemed to have clawed his team back into a game, in which they had no business remaining competitive in. Matthews, Marner, Matthew Knies were the only Maple Leafs line to constantly drive play, while Chris Tanev’s shot-blocking heroics and Anthony Stolarz’s poised demeanour certainly deserves plaudits. But this is all for naught.
Matthews and the Maple Leafs emphasized a response from their worst two-game stretch of the year. While the Leafs were outplayed, outchanced and outworked throughout the night, Toronto’s captain worked tirelessly and scored with one minute and 17 seconds left remaining in regulation to the tie the contest. Saturday’s game was a response game for both Matthews and his counterpart, Brad Marchand, who had made costly mistakes, which drew national attention after their respective head coaches took them to task.
And in the end, it’s Marchand’s superior attention to detail that won out against Matthews. During the overtime period, where Matthews narrowly missed the net on a would-be winner, he made the game-defining error. Matthews carelessly tossed the puck up the ice in his own defensive zone, seemingly expecting a teammate to be there. David Pastrnak retained possession, fired a shot-pass over to Marchand, who jammed away at the net uncontested and scored the overtime winner for a 4-3 Bruins victory. We’ve seen this scenario play out, but after Matthews took accountability for Thursday’s performance, he was the last player you’d expect to commit an unforced turnover in overtime.
BRAD IS ON THE BOARD ©️ pic.twitter.com/DNDS6oZi35
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 27, 2024
Marchand committed a critical error of his own a week away ago, where the Bruins blew a 1-0 lead and lost to the Utah Hockey Club. In the following days, Marchand told reporters he didn’t think it was a big deal and spoke about how he expects to be held accountable. And it rings true when you look at his resume, where he’s won at every stage of his professional career. Marchand picked one hell of a time to get his first goal of the season, he hadn’t looked the part of a superstar to begin the season, but he elevated his game when his team needed it the most, and that may end up be one of his defining qualities when we reflect upon his career in sum.
Matthews, on the other hand, looked every bit the part of a superstar, with nine individual scoring chances in all situations. He took on four Bruins defenders before the puck popped free for Matthew Knies on Toronto’s opening goal, his gravity effect created room for Morgan Rielly to emerge free on Toronto’s second goal and he crashed the net hard, taking a feed from Marner to send the game into overtime. Matthews, along with his linemates, Tanev, and Stolarz were key reasons why the Maple Leafs even received a point in the first place. Unfortunately, all that will likely be remembered from this contest was his game-sealing turnover.
“I thought somebody was coming back, and then as I went to pass it, I looked up, and it wasn’t the case,” Matthews explained post-game via Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. “So I just tried to get back and make a play, and just an unfortunate bounce.”
And perhaps therein lies the difference. Matthews is the far superior player and is one of the faces of the league. Ahead of Saturday’s games, Matthews was tied for the NHL lead in shots and he was minutes away from changing the narrative on a turbulent week for the Maple Leafs. In the end, attention to detail separates good teams from great teams — no one would call the 2024-25 Bruins a great team based on their body of work, and Marchand finally appeared to be feeling some age-related decline.
Brad Marchand became the third player in NHL history with 20 career overtime goals, joining Alex Ovechkin (26) and Sidney Crosby (20).#NHLStats: https://t.co/LljVRQRcWY https://t.co/GIUsVqYU5F
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 27, 2024
The devil is in the details, as the saying goes, and Matthews’ terrific night was unfortunately underscored by a costly mistake against an opponent who has tormented his team throughout the entirety of his career. Both captains delivered a response, but only one could deliver a knockout punch in this late-October tilt.
