Matthews earns maintenance day after gritty performance against Stars

TSN SportsCentre Reporter Mark Masters reports on the Toronto Maple Leafs, who practised at Ford Performance Centre on Friday ahead of their game against the Jets in Winnipeg on Saturday.

Auston Matthews sat out Friday's practice.

"He played a lot of minutes yesterday," said coach Sheldon Keefe. "He got a little bit banged up, too. It was a pretty easy one to give him [off]. He got his work in and was doing his thing in the gym getting ready for tomorrow."

Matthews played nearly 27 minutes during Thursday's overtime win. He drew two penalties, blocked two shots, landed two hits and set up the game-winning goal. 

"He's as complete a player as there is in this league," observed third-line centre Alex Kerfoot. "Does everything that you need out of someone to win, out of someone who's going to lead your group. He does it on a nightly basis. Even if he's not scoring, he's still going to be one of the best players on the ice every night."

Matthews is not in an offensive rhythm yet. He's scored just one goal through five games and that was on a deflection. And yet the 25-year-old centre continues to find ways to influence the game and lift the Leafs. 

"He goes to the hard areas," said veteran defenceman Mark Giordano. "He's in front of the net. We saw it again last night. He had a big block in our zone [on Wyatt Johnston]. He plays hard. He finishes checks. So, there's going to be bumps and bruises."

The Dallas Stars seemed intent on making life as difficult as possible for the Hart Trophy winner. A stick shot from Jamie Benn left Matthews wincing on the bench early on. 

"It was a subtle and sneaky cross-check from Benn on Auston there — a hard one to find or to call — but those are the ones that the league doesn't want to see," Keefe said. "More often than not, those types of things would be called if they were seen."

Matthews did elicit two whistles: tripping on Miro Heiskanen in the second period and roughing on Jani Hakanpaa in the third period. 

"The calls against him last night were definitely warranted and there were probably a couple of others in there that could've been called in addition to that," said Keefe. 

"For a superstar, he complains about absolutely nothing," highlighted gritty winger Wayne Simmonds. "He deserves to complain about a lot more. That's just the type of guy Matty is. He leads by example and just does all the little things the right way and never complains and battles his butt off for us."

John Tavares believes Matthews is "second to none" in the National Hockey League when it comes to playing through contact. 

"He's such a leader for us in that aspect," the Leafs captain noted.

"It shows his competitiveness," said linemate Mitch Marner. "He wants to win games. It doesn't matter what time of year it is or anything like that. He's a competitor." 

Matthews is tied for the league lead with six drawn penalties this season, which is a welcome uptick for the Leafs. Last year, Matthews drew only 14 penalties despite being the league's MVP. 

"He just plays the game and allows the referees to call the game as they see it," said Keefe. "Maybe the coach has a few things to say from time to time, but Auston himself just plays and takes care of what he can take care of. He doesn't look for any additional help or anything like that."

Matthews was rewarded on Thursday night and got the last laugh on the Stars by assisting on the overtime winner by Nick Robertson. 

"For a guy who still hasn't shot one in the net, at a key moment in the game, he passes up the shot to make the appropriate play," Keefe said. "We had the Rocket Richard Trophy winner down the pipe and he made the right play. He got all of the attention of the goalie and moved it over to Nick to finish it. I think that is a terrific moment."

Robertson wasn't surprised. 

"He makes the right play in any situation," the winger said. "Their goalie respected who was shooting and he knew that and paused him and dished it over."

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The Leafs converted on just one of eight power-play chances on Thursday and the goal came from the second unit. 

"We haven't found our rhythm on it yet," acknowledged Keefe. "We are just off. Passes are off. We are just not sharp and not crisp the way our team will be when we find our rhythm."

At the end of Friday's practice, assistant coach Spencer Carbery called over Morgan Rielly, William Nylander, Marner and Tavares for a pep talk and some extra work. 

"We're moving the puck well," Marner stressed following Thursday's game. "We're winning our puck battles when the pucks are getting sprayed around. We're getting those back pretty often and we're making plays off it, but it just seems like one or two bounces away from really clicking and that happens sometimes."

The Leafs are converting at 18.2 per cent so far this season, which is 17th in the NHL entering Friday's games. 

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Special teams could be a big factor again on Saturday. Last season, the two games between Toronto and Winnipeg were feisty affairs with 35 penalties called. Simmonds, who featured prominently in those games, will make his season debut in the Manitoba capital.

"Two competitive teams, obviously," Simmonds said. "We always play each other hard so these are fun games to play in. I'm looking forward to it."

Simmonds and Adam Lowry were assessed misconducts at the end of the last meeting on March 31. 

Will the bad blood from last season carry over?  

"I don't know," Simmonds said. "We'll see what happens when the puck drops, right. Our main objective is to get two points."

Simmonds skated on the fourth line beside David Kampf and Pierre Engvall at practice. 

"We don't want him to sit too long," Keefe said. "I thought Wayne had a good camp with us ... With Wayne and Kyle Clifford in particular, they are guys that were important parts of our team, our culture and our group. Having Wayne up here and having the flexibility with our lineup and roster, it is important to get him involved."

Simmonds, who cleared waivers after failing to crack the 20-man roster at the end of camp, last played in a pre-season game on Oct. 7. 

"I've been skating the whole time so I feel great," he assured.   

Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who leads the team with 20 hits, will be a healthy scratch for the first time since signing with Toronto this summer. Keefe spoke with Aube-Kubel before practice. 

"He has done some good things for us," Keefe said. "Physically, he has pretty much led the way for us. We like that about his game. I think there are other areas that just haven't quite come together here yet. That is what we talked about. His coming out of the lineup is frankly less about him and more about wanting to get Wayne involved. At the same time, my message to Kubie is that he has not done enough to where he is not part of that conversation in terms of coming out to make room for Wayne."

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Giordano is suffering no ill effects following a scary fall into the boards late in Thursday's game.

"I felt like I caught a rut or something," the 39-year-old recalled. "We were going in hard for the puck and, yeah, definitely don't want to be going into the end wall that hard too often. But, thankfully, everything's good." 

Giordano is getting used to a new partner in Victor Mete. That duo didn't see much time together due to all the special teams work on Thursday and the closeness of the game. 

Mete played just 10 minutes in his Leafs debut.

"I look at the first period and I like a lot of the things that he did," Keefe said. "He really increases the pace of our defence. He is a real nice skater — one of the nicest skaters on the back end in the league. I am trying to encourage him to skate and use that asset that he has. His minutes didn't get to where we thought they might in the game, but for him coming into the lineup, I was happy with what he gave us."

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Moments before puck drop on Thursday, Keefe and Robertson shared a laugh on the bench. What was that about? 

"I squirt water in my neck," Robertson said of his pre-game ritual. "In pre-season I did it and I got our PP coach [Carbery]. I got it all over his suit. I did it twice."

Robertson changed his routine on Thursday ahead of his regular-season debut and sprayed the water down the front of his sweater.

"Keefer says, 'You know for all the development and what I've seen this is the best one.'"

Robertson is doing everything in his power to impress Toronto's coaches and show off his on-ice development.

"You dream of this stuff to score an overtime winner in the NHL," Robertson said following his hero turn on Thursday night. "But now it's [important] to keep going and keep fighting and earning every day."

Robertson was demoted to the American Hockey League after a strong training camp in a cap-related move. 

"That was tough but now to get a night like this, it kind of makes up for it," he said. "Again, I don't want to just have a night. I want to be consistent and play well and help the team." 

It's hard to imagine the shifty winger, who scored twice on Thursday, going back to the Marlies.

"He has the ability to finish," Keefe said. "He showed that. He had two real good looks. He had a couple of other looks, actually, that were close. He has the ability to finish but he also did a lot of other little things really well in the game. He was on the puck. He checked. He got back on defence. It was a real good performance from him."

That's why the coach didn't hesitate to throw the 21-year-old over the boards in overtime. 

"I had to talk myself out of putting him out earlier," Keefe said with a grin. 

"Two goals [speak] for themselves," said Marner, "but also his competitiveness on the puck, his forechecking, he won a lot of 50-50 battles out there. It was great to watch. Just an all-around great night for 89."

Robertson fit in well beside Nylander and Tavares, who had a game high eight shots. 

"You just continue to see the calmness in his game a little bit," Tavares said. "He's such a bull. A little bit more composure with the way he's playing and really understanding when to use that speed and that power that he has and, obviously, that great shot."

Robertson, who scored just twice in his first 20 NHL games (playoffs and regular season combined), credits video work with his trainer during the summer for helping him simplify his game. 

"I kind of forced it originally and just kind of been nervous," he said. "I'm more confident, mature, older now so it's just easier to handle this type of hockey and progress ... If a week ago someone said I'll get the OT winner, I would say, 'Crazy.' You never know what can happen in this industry and I'm just happy it went my way.

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None of Toronto's injured players are expected to travel on this five-game trip. 

The team is still awaiting a timeline on defenceman Jake Muzzin, who sustained a neck injury on Monday night. 

"He is supposed to have another follow-up appointment," Keefe said. "There may be more [clarity] after that but, for now, we are going to continue to let things settle down for him and get a better idea of where he is at."

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Lines at Friday's practice: 

Bunting - Malgin - Marner 
Robertson - Tavares - Nylander 
Aston-Reese - Kerfoot - Jarnkrok 
Engvall - Kampf - Simmonds 
Aube-Kubel 

Rielly - Brodie 
Sandin - Holl 
Giordano - Mete

Samsonov
Kallgren 

Maintenance: Matthews

Injured: Benn (groin), Dahlstrom (shoulder), Liljegren (hernia), Murray (adductor), Muzzin (neck)