Sheldon Keefe not pleased with the play of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner in Chicago
The Matthews-Marner tandem has been given a lot more rope than maybe is deserved this season, but still, Leafs' bench boss Sheldon Keefe continues to roll them out night in and night out as though they're feasting on the opposition. The fact of the matter is that something is out of sync there this season and a change may be needed to try and get each of them going.
On Friday afternoon, the Leafs were handed arguably their most embarrassing loss of the season, choking away a 2-goal lead to lose 4-3 in OT to the Chicago Blackhawks, who snapped a 5-game losing skid against the Leafs, who were coming into the game having won 4 straight.
The team received goals from Nick Robertson, Calle Jarnkrok and Ryan Reaves to take a 3-1 lead, but ultimately blew it, allowing Jason Dickinson to record his first career hat trick before rookie defenseman Kevin Korchinski was first to pounce on a loose puck in front of the net in OT thanks to a favourable bounce, putting it past a scrambling Ilya Samsonov to secure the win for the Hawks.
This lack of scoring from the Leafs' top line is becoming a bit of a concerning trend. Over their last 5 games, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner have struggled mightily, with Matthews having tallied just 1 goal and 1 assist and Marner having just 3 assists over that span.
So, how did Keefe react to Matthews and Marner laying an egg again in Chicago?
Of course, that wasn't the first night that they just didn't have it. But, rather than splitting them up and rewarding the red hot William Nylander with a promotion to the top line, Keefe has continued to allow Marner and Matthews to skate by without doing what they're paid to do, which is to put up points.
Look, I get it. Guys are going to have their ups and downs throughout the course of a season. That much is clear. But when you've got a couple of young studs making $10.9M or more who are incapable of combining for more than 1 goal for a 5-game stretch, with games against some inferior teams, sooner or later they have to run out of chances to turn it around on their own.
Obviously, Matthews and Marner are two elite, elite talents. They're going to figure it out eventually, but as a coach, your job is not to accept the lack of production. It's to make in-game adjustments and adjustments during practice to see to it that you're giving your team the best chance to win. If a couple of guys don't "have it", move the pieces around.
If Marner and Matthews can't find it during a game against the 2nd-last place Chicago Blackhawks, allowing their team to drop a valuable 2nd point to a bottom-feeding team, I don't know how we're supposed to count on these guys to will their way through a murderer's row in the Eastern Conference during the playoffs. It's as simple as that. Yes, I'm aware that Sheldon Keefe has a great deal of belief in these guys that they'll figure it out, but sometimes, as the coach, you can't just sit back and do nothing so you don't hurt people's feelings. When they're not playing well together, just split them up, Sheldon.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 25 | 243 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe not pleased with the play of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner in Chicago Do you think Sheldon Keefe should keep Matthews and Marner together or split them up? | ||
| Keep them together. They'll figure it out | 44 | 18.1 % |
| Spit them up. Willy deserves to be on the top line | 165 | 67.9 % |
| Just mix it up every game | 34 | 14 % |
| List of polls | ||
