‘Rested’ Matthews looks to lead Leafs past close-out demons
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The Maple Leafs held an optional skate at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday. The Senators held a media availability at their hotel.
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After missing Monday's practice, Leafs centre Auston Matthews returned to the ice for the team's optional skate ahead of Game 5.
How's he feeling?
"Good," he said with a grin. "Thanks."
The team described Matthews' absence on Monday as a rest day. How's he looking?
"Rested," said Leafs coach Craig Berube to laughs.
Matthews showed no signs of duress during a 30-minute session with Max Domi and player development staffer Patrick O'Sullivan.
"I just listen to the body, and sometimes you just feel like you need a little bit of a rest or time off the ice," the 27-year-old said. "I think it’s not a big deal."
Matthews missed 15 games in the regular season and one other game at the 4 Nations Face-Off due to an upper-body injury. But the Leafs captain downplayed concern that he's battling an injury once again.
"Everybody’s grinding right now," he said. "It’s that point in the season where it's hard, physical hockey and you're always going to go through different things, so it’s nothing that’s abnormal. Everybody’s grinding and playing hard right now, so it’s not a big deal."
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The score favours the Leafs 10-1 with Matthews on the ice during the series.
"It’s not easy," said Senators coach Travis Green of the matchup. "One of the best players in the world and you’re not going to keep guys like that off the scoresheet. They’re going to get goals. They’re going to get points. I’d say we’ve done an okay job and he’s still a real effective player in the series."
Matthews has hit the scoresheet in every game so far with one goal and five assists in the series. Toronto's top line has generated an even-strength goal in three of the four games.
The Senators are looking to get their shutdown unit of Shane Pinto, Michael Amadio and Ridly Greig out against the Matthews line whenever they can.
"It’s a huge confidence boost from the coach that he trusts us to be out there against them," said Amadio. "I think we’ve done a good job of that so far in the series. We got to keep that going."
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After falling 4-3 in overtime in Game 4 on Saturday, the Leafs are now 1-12 when they have a chance to eliminate an opponent in the Matthews era.
"We want to be a desperate hockey team tonight," Matthews said. "We know they’re going to be a desperate hockey team. I think back on home ice, feed into the energy of the crowd, the atmosphere, all that stuff, enjoy it, and have some fun. But make sure we’re focused right from the drop of the puck."
Toronto is looking to clinch a playoff series on home ice for the first time since 2004.
The Leafs have won nine straight at Scotiabank Arena dating back to March 17.
"The first two games here, at the start of the series, the atmosphere was incredible," said Matthews. "I expect it to be even louder and rowdier tonight."
"We know they’ll come out hard," said Senators defenceman Thomas Chabot. "They’re in their building. They’re looking to close out the series. It will be on us to manage the emotions and calm the storm a little bit."
The Leafs jumped out to a 2-0 start in both games in Toronto in the series. On Saturday, the Senators flipped the script and went up 2-0 in the opening frame.
"We’re going to need a good start tonight," stressed Berube. "We need to be aggressive and do things right and we need everybody. You know, not relying on one or two guys. We need everybody to do their job and contribute."
The pressure is on the Leafs to avoid a return trip to Ottawa for Game 6.
"We got nothing to lose," said Chabot. "We know we have a lot of talent and we know we can battle with these guys and it’s shown the last few games."
The last three games have all gone to overtime.
"We are not going to sit here and focus on the closeout," said Berube. "We are going to focus on what we need to do to close it out."
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The Senators feel like they unlocked a new playoff level in Game 4.
"I think our team stepped up in certain areas in terms of being able to do whatever it takes to win," said Green, "and some of [that] is sacrificing your body."
Ottawa is second in the playoffs in hits while the Leafs rank last in that department. The Senators have been credited with 67 more bodychecks in the series.
"It’s not something new to our team," Green noted. "We want to be a physical team. That’s part of how we play and you hope it has an effect as the series goes on. But I think both teams will have a lot of juice in their game tonight. We’ve had a couple days off. It’s going to be a great hockey game."
The Senators ranked fourth in hits in the regular season while the Leafs were eighth.
"I think we can be more physical at times," said Berube. "I call it arriving on time to make the contact. Yeah, for sure, there’s times I think we can do a better job of it. I’m not too concerned about that."
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Despite Saturday's loss, Berube is sticking with the same lineup for Game 5. That means centre David Kampf will remain a healthy scratch.
"It is hard for him, for sure, but he got injured at the end of the year, and that is the situation," Berube said. "The team was playing well, and I didn’t want to change the lineup. It is not a knock against him at all. It is just how things are looking and going. That is why I have stuck with what I have stuck with."
Max Pacioretty replaced Nick Robertson in the lineup for Game 3 and, despite struggling to keep up with the pace on Saturday, will remain on the fourth line on Tuesday.
"I knew the first one would be easier than the second in terms of adrenaline," the 36-year-old winger said. "You don’t feel as great with not much time to recover [and] at the same time my minutes went up, and played two overtime games after almost three months [off], so can’t be too hard on myself."
Pacioretty led the team with 12 hits during the two games in Ottawa.
"Look for little intangibles where I can to help the team, but now have to look to create a little bit more and be better as a line," he said.
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Joseph Woll returned to the ice after missing Monday's practice due to an illness. He will dress as the backup goalie once again.
Anthony Stolarz is making his fifth straight start, which is a new season high. He's coming off his worst statistical game of the season (.810 save percentage) but Berube quickly shot down any idea that he may go back to a goalie rotation system like in the regular season.
"I'm just focused on Stolarz, right now, playing," the coach said. "That's really where I'm at. I don't think there's any reason to change right now."
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Projected Leafs lineup for Game 5:
Knies - Matthews - Marner
Holmberg - Tavares - Nylander
Lorentz - Laughton - Jarnkrok
McMann - Domi - Pacioretty
McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Carlo
Ekman-Larsson - Benoit
Stolarz starts
Woll