Matthews identifies who he felt was the Leafs' best line and his answer may surprise you
Leaf fans were in a glass case of emotions last night as the Leafs pulled off a shootout win over the Habs after erasing two multi-goal deficits. Led by Auston Matthews' hat-trick and a dominant game from William Nylander and John Klingberg, the Leafs tied the game late, scoring two goals with Ilya Samsonov on the bench before Mitch Marner eventually scored the shootout winner. Following the game, Matthews was asked about the Leafs' performance and credited a surprising trio for helping bring consistency to the forward group.
"Kampfer's line was obviously our best and most consistent line tonight and that's always a positive. Little things there are a positive for us," said Matthews, referring to the Kampf line
The Leafs' fourth line of Noah Gregor, David Kampf and Ryan Reaves started the offensive explosion for the blue and white with Gregor beating Jake Allen with a shot that seemed to catch the Canadiens' goalie by surprise. Reaves did what he always does and supplied an energy boost for the team with a pair of big hits and a fight in the first period, while Kampf was steady as always at 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill.
While he credited Kampf's line for being the most consistent on the evening, Matthews called the game a roller coaster and stated that it was nice to get the two points, but said there was lots for the team to clean up.
"I think there's definitely a lot of things we can clean up. Just taking care of the puck and turnover stuff and little awareness stuff that we can be better at I think it's just those habits that you build in camp that you want to clean up early... it's nice to get the win but definitely a lot we can take from here." - Matthews on using the home opener as a building block
Matthews led the way with a hat-trick including scoring two goals in the final 4 minutes to tie the game and looked fairly good on the penalty kill while playing just over 24 minutes on the night. The Leafs won't have long to clean up their turnover issues as they will be back in action on Saturday night when the Minnesota Wild visit Toronto.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 12 | 127 ANSWERS Matthews identifies who he felt was the Leafs' best line and his answer may surprise you Will Matthews score 60 goals again this season? | ||
| Yes | 113 | 89 % |
| No | 14 | 11 % |
| List of polls | ||
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