Matthews, Marner remain together as Leafs host Caps

Trailing the Nashville Predators 1-0 late in the second period on Wednesday night, the Maple Leafs shuffled their lines and reunited Auston Matthews with Mitch Marner. The dynamic duo quickly combined for two goals early in the third period in what ended up being a 3-2 win.

"Just kind of pick up where they leave off," noted Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly. "That seems to be the way it works with them ... They just have a little bit of a feel for each other. And when you combine that with their skill set and their IQ, good things tend to happen."

Matthews and Marner will remain together on Toronto's top line for Friday's game against the Washington Capitals.

"You change things up in a game sometimes and it works," coach Craig Berube said. "So, yeah, you stick with it for a bit and see how it goes."

"They have a huge period together," said Capitals coach Spencer Carbery. "That chemistry is going to be back, and they're feeling really good about themselves going into tonight."

When Matthews missed nine games with an undisclosed upper-body issue last month, Marner led the Leafs in scoring while playing mostly beside John Tavares. So, when Matthews returned last Saturday in Tampa, Berube decided to play him with William Nylander and keep Marner with Tavares.  

But when it comes to Matthews and Marner it feels like it's only a matter of time before they reconnect.

"They know where each other are at all times and they can make incredible plays," said top-line winger Matthew Knies. "They just have good chemistry on and off the ice."

"The chemistry between them is something special," said Capitals defenceman Rasmus Sandin, who played four seasons for the Leafs from 2019 to 2023. "You just see them in warmups and, after everyone gets off the ice, those two are just hovering around, just having fun with the puck, and that's kind of how they play on the ice during the game too. You just have to be

smart with them, play pretty tight on them, and give them some cheap shots here and there too."

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After scoring twice on Wednesday, Matthews is up to three goals in three games since returning from the injury. The reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner presents a big challenge for Washington's Dylan Strome.

"He's really trying to take that next step to be able to be in the conversation with the other first-line centres in the NHL," said Carbery. "The Auston Matthews of the world, the Brayden Points of the world, and he's gotten off to a tremendous start ... He's right there, to me, and he's shown that through the first 25 games of the season."

Strome is tied for 10th in league scoring with 34 points. He's also tied for fourth with a plus-17 mark.

What's the next step?

"Being able to go up against these top lines, and play them straight up," said Carbery. "You're not going to win that matchup every night, but being able to hang in that matchup and go toe-to-toe, and it's half and half O-zone time each, it's half and half scoring chances each. And maybe tonight Stromer ends up on the right ledger of that and he's got one [goal] and one

[assist] and Auston's minus-one, and all the sudden we out chance them 10-7 when Auston and Dylan were on the ice together ... Again, you're not going to do that every single night, but if you can outplay or out-match the Nathan MacKinnon, Austons, that's what he's trying to do and trying to get into those conversations, and being one of those elite, first-line centremen in

the NHL."

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Strome is from Mississauga, Ont. and expects between 15 and 20 friends and family members to be at Friday's game. It's been a while since he's celebrated a win in his hometown.

"I don't even know the last time," he said. "I think we maybe won two years ago, not here maybe in Washington, but other than that haven't had much success here. Changed up my spot where I went to dinner last night and hopefully get a win here."

Sandin handled the dinner plan by scoring a reservation at an upscale sushi spot.

The last time Strome experienced a win in Toronto? March 13, 2019, when Strome had a pair of assists, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Leafs 5-4. Since then, it's been four straight losses for him in Toronto.

The Capitals, meanwhile, have dropped five straight to the Leafs and nine of 10 overall. Washington hasn't won in Toronto since 2019.

"I kind of want that first win at least," said Sandin, who has lost all four games against his former club.

It looked like Washington would finally beat Toronto last month, but the Capitals squandered a 3-1 third-period advantage before losing in overtime. Carbery described the performance, which came against a Leafs team playing on the second night in a row, as "embarrassing." Did he bring that up today?

"We talked a little bit about it this morning," he said. "But it was more from a standpoint of what we failed to do in that third period and how we got away from our game, which ended up costing us the hockey game. So, it was more from an Xs and Os and a tactical standpoint and what we got away from and what, for that matter, this team does really well to give you issues,

and what they did to give us issues at the end of that game. So, hopefully we will be able to handle that a little bit better tonight and learn from the experience in our building and be better for it."

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Marner will be the only Maple Leaf to play for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.

"It's disappointing," Tavares said of not getting an invite. "I would have loved to be a part of it."

"It is what it is," said Rielly. "They have a great team and we're all going to be cheering for them."

Does getting passed over provide motivation?

"Yeah, for sure," said Rielly, who played for Team North America at the 2016 World Cup. "I think that's the takeaway. It's always a great honour to play for your country and you're always trying to perform well enough to get that opportunity again."

Tavares, who captained Canada at the recent World Championships, received a call from Hockey Canada over the weekend to let him know about the roster decision.

"You're obviously disappointed and motivated to play well," the 34-year-old centre said. "I think I'm always that way. But, in general, you just want to continue to push to be part of events and opportunities like that and play for Team Canada. There's the Olympics next year and whatever after that. I mean, you know, it's not really where you put your focus on, but you know if

you play really well, you play at a high level, you can show that you can be part of a group that can help win, and you put yourself in the mix."

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The conference-leading Capitals are one of just two teams, with the Seattle Kraken being the other, to have no players selected to a roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Canadian goalie Logan Thompson, Canadian winger Tom Wilson and American defenceman John Carlson all made compelling cases.

"I thought Thompson was the guy for our team that probably deserved to be there," said Strome. "He's had a great start to the season, and he's held us in so many games and obviously has a great record and great stats."

Thompson is second among Canadian goalies in wins (11) and save percentage (.913).

Carlson, meanwhile, is sixth among American defencemen with 19 points.

"I'm a little biased but I think John Carlson is one of the best D in the league," Strome continued. "So, it's obviously disappointing for some of those guys that thought they could've been there. But, at the same time, four games, it's a cool tournament to be a part of for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you see Carlson on the Olympic team next year."

Carbery made a point of checking in with all of the Capitals, who got passed over.  

"When you tell me a best-on-best tournament, I'm going like, 'Tom Wilson all day long,' because I've seen it," Carbery said. "I've watched it. I've seen what he's able to do in a 1-1 game when our season's on the line."

Wilson hit the scoresheet in three of the final four regular season games last year to help the Capitals secure the conference's final playoff spot.

"Obviously, there's an element of you wanting to be on that team," Wilson acknowledged. "As a kid you always want a chance to represent your country, especially Canada, so it is what it is, but I'm not losing too much sleep over it. I got to wake up and keep this team moving in the right direction and keep playing as well as I can, personally."  

Strome seemed like he deserved some consideration too.

"You look at the centres on Team Canada, [Connor] McDavid,  MacKinnon, [Sidney] Crosby and then they put a guy like [Anthony] Cirelli probably as the fourth-line centre, who's won two Stanley Cups and a lot of games in Tampa Bay, so to be talked about, I guess, among them is a huge honour, but I wasn't holding my breath. I believe in myself, in my abilities, but it's a

pretty good roster."

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As part of Berube's line shuffle on Wednesday, Pontus Holmberg was removed from the second line and replaced by rookie Fraser Minten. But at Friday's skate, Holmberg had returned to the left-wing slot beside Tavares and Nylander and Minten was back in the middle of the third line between Nick Robertson and Steven Lorentz.

Any temptation to keep Minten in the top six?

"There is," Berube said. "I do like him in the middle of the ice. I feel like having him down there, in that spot, you know, in his position where he's a solid defender down low and things like that, it makes that line stronger."

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Lines at Leafs skate on Friday:

Knies - Matthews - Marner
Holmberg - Tavares - Nylander
Robertson - Minten - Lorentz
Grebenkin - Dewar - Reaves
Domi, Pacioretty, A. Nylander

Ekman-Larsson - Tanev
Rielly - Myers
Benoit - Timmins
McCabe, Rifai

Stolarz starts
Woll