Auston Matthews does many things right. Maple Leafs still need him to score

Sunrise, Fla. – Auston Matthews has not yet achieved a playoff goal against the Florida Panthers.

The Maple Leafs will very likely change to win two of the next three games and overcome the defending Stanley Cup champions, even if Matthews otherwise do a lot of good things.

Matthews did not score in the second round of the Playoffs in 2023 against the Panthers in five games, and he was held off the board in the first four games in this series.

But it's not just the panthers. In his last 20 playoff games, he has unusually lazy shooting with 3.7 percent. That is three goals at 81 shots, two of these goals in the first round against the Ottawa senators.

“A little,” said Matthews when he was asked if he felt after an ugly 2-0 loss in game 4 slaughter skin.

As Matthews further pointed out, the Leafs (sometimes) tend the ice in his minutes. His line was the only one who did so positively on Sunday, even if they hardly generated anything. The shots were 2-1 for the leaf in almost nine minutes.

“I think we have a chance and it is not of your end” The athlete. “I think we need the second and third ways. I think we have to be a little more up to high. And then obviously online – I have the feeling that we miss the network of a bin, and that only kills our offensive.”

Although it was knees who missed the network in game 4 in a Shorthand outbreak, missed shots were part of the history of Matthews' history, but not in an everyday way. Matthews takes a lot of shots and mistakes too. Somehow it comes with the territory to be a shooter with a high volume. With almost 31 percent of his attempts in these playoffs, he missed the network. In the regular season, this number was almost 27 percent.

Matthews did not have his usual shootout all the season. In 67 games he ended with 33 goals with 33 goals. He achieved only 15 of them five, eight less than his previous low for every season. He was particularly cold in the track and in the last 30 games only five times with five against five points the same number as Max Domi and one less than Nick Robertson.

The Leafs need him to be more precise.

A first period filled in the first period did not allow the Leaf to get started in game 4 at the beginning of five against five.

“I think we drained the gas in the first and made some stupid punishments,” said Knies. “So I think it was everything it did to give them chances, and I think that's the reason why it ended as it did.”

It was interesting who finally decided to defend Matthews and his line in Florida with the lead of homeis. Not your No. 1 line under the direction of Aleksander Barkov. And also not your No. 1 couple in defense. Not after the Matthews line used to get the lead on them in this series.

For the second game in a row, the Panthers used the annoying unit guided by Brad Marchand to defend Matthews, Knies and Mitch Marner, and combined them with the monster defensive couple from 6-foot-6 Niko Mikkola and 6-4 Seth Jones.

And it worked for the second game in a row.

Once on it was, it was Jones -and all of this length -who slowed Matthews in the 2020 off -season as Columbus blue jacket.

“I feel like a typical NHL defender who is a big, lengthy guy these days, moves the puck well,” said Knies when he was asked about Mikkola and Jones. “This is your whole D core, and that is similar to our D core. That is why it is so difficult to play against these boys.”

Matthew's line has to struggle against the Mikkola-Jones combination of powerful: the Leafs won only 23 percent of the expected goals in 21.5 minutes in this series. They scored two hits (and also two), but generated a total of two high-danger wail attempts.

In other words, the Leafs get nothing against these two oaks. The Panthers close time and space.

However, it's not just about Matthews. He doesn't get the puck in the offensive zone with good opportunities to shoot it. Is that a play style, prioritization of low to high knees and not in possession of Puck? Is it Marner, the playmaker in the management, not enough for Matthews?

It is probably a bit both and both things that have to improve so that Matthews gets rolling.

Matthews has determined the inability of the strikers to help the group in defense to break the defense zone cleanly, as the reason for the general offensive struggles of the team in game 4.

“I think in the four games we mostly won shifts and generated chances against hard matchups,” said Matthews about his line. “But obviously you want to score – I want to score.”

The Leafs still exceeded the Panthers 5-2 when the Matthews line was out there. As always, Matthews was defensive. He has three templates in this series and eight in total in the playoffs. He won over 57 percent of his draws, led the team in the snack bars and divided the team with Marner for blocked shots in this off -season.

He works hard. He does good things.

A dysfunctional power game didn't help. The Leafs are 2-15 in the series, and one of these goals came from the second unit (via Max Pacioretty). The Leafs often had difficulty setting up in game 4.

Matthews had one of the only quality looks all night, although he is not presented there as he was. There is a case to do that it is not optimized there, with a large part of the action through Marner and William Nylander and then on knees and John Tavares. The Leafs did not have Matthews as they did once.

Craig Berube has a lot to think about to go to game 5 in Toronto. Its lower two strikers need a skewer. He could also consider whether the Leafs need a new recipe on this upper unit, for example by replacing Marner with Nylander. Such a movement could deliver a jerk.

It could also feel like panic. Change the matchups can be a simpler tactic.

Although the Leafs trainer for the most part cannot fully stay away from Mikkola and Jones, he can decide whether he wants this unit to play against Barkov again. This matchup went early in favor of the Leafs.

It would also dissolve things for Tavares and Nylanders in the second line (provided they stay together). These two fought to create a lot against head to head with Barkov and the finalist of Selke Trophy, the finalist of Selke Trophy, in games 3 and 4.

However, tweaks can only do so much to alleviate the problem. In a down year, Matthews also took third place in the team in the team during the regular season and only remained Nylander (45) and Tavares (38). Bobby McMmann, the leaf with the sixth highest goals (20), did not score in his last 21 games until the end of the regular season, and Robertson, who was seventh (15), did not play (which could change in game 5).

Only one sheet in the lower six, Domi, has achieved in this series.

The Leafs cannot afford Matthews not to score, not for a long time. They are not deep enough for that.

(Topoto from Auston Matthews and teammates: Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)