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The National Hockey League announced the three finalists for the Hart Trophy for the player voted most valuable to his team by the Professional Hockey Writers Association and Leafs center Auston Matthews, Oilers center Connor McDavid and Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin were named.
Matthews led the NHL in goals (60) and won the Rocket Richard for the second straight season, scoring the most in a season by a Toronto Maple Leafs player and by a US-born player, and was the first to reach the 60-goal mark since Steven Stamkos in 2011-12.
Matthews tied Stamkos for sixth in the NHL scoring with 106 points in 73 games, was first with 348 shots on goal, and helped Toronto (54-21-7) to the most wins and points (115) in its history and qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the sixth straight season. Matthews was runner-up to McDavid last season but has to be considered the favorite to be the first Leaf to win the Hart since Ted “Teeder” Kennedy won in 1954-55. Babe Pratt won the Hart with Toronto in 1943-44.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs were able to rebound from a slow start in their pivotal 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5, but may not have that luxury with the Lightning facing elimination in Game 6 at Amalie Arena. Toronto trailed Tampa 2-0 after the first period by turned the tide in the second period, scoring a goal on the power play, and scoring three times in the third, including Matthews game-winner goal with 6:06 remaining.
That start was similar to the slow start in Game 4, where the Lightning scored three times in the first eight minutes and did not look back in a 7-3 romp over Toronto. The Leafs must be at full throttle from puck drop, putting Tampa on their heels, winning races to the puck and stick battles as they did in Games 1 and 3.
As expected, head coach Sheldon Keefe will not make any lineup changes or juggle any lines or pairings after a win, and Tampa’s Jon Cooper will follow suit. At points during the win on Tuesday, Keefe flip-flopped William Nylander and Mitch Marner on the lines with John Tavares and Matthews looking for an offensive spark, and that may occur again depending on the flow of the game.
What will be key for the game is for Toronto’s core group to show up as they did in Game 5 and for the club to not be intimidated and keep the Lightning in check. Andrei Vasilevskiy has not been the goalie that most observers expected in this series (3.65 GAA and .880 save percentage) perhaps because of fatigue, but the former Vezina winner has a nasty habit of coming up big when his club needs him and the Leafs will need Jack Campbell to at least match Vasilevskiy to keep Toronto in the game as he did on Tuesday.
More than anything, Game 6 is an opportunity to prove the Leafs have the requisite killer instinct to finish off an opponent and move to the second round for the first time since 2004, Otherwise, it will be a seventh and deciding game on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena where everything is up for grabs.
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