Maple Leafs vs. Wild observations: Auston Matthews stands out again with another hat trick

TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 14: Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his third goal of the game against the Minnesota Wild with teammates TJ Brodie #78, Morgan Rielly #44, Tyler Bertuzzi #59 and Mitchell Marner #16 during the third period at the Scotiabank Arena on October 14, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Andrew Lahodynskyj/NHLI via Getty Images)
By Omar White
Oct 15, 2023

The first Saturday night game had all you could ask for: fights, goals and another goal song. The Toronto Maple Leafs remain undefeated on the season and have proven two things so far.

  1. Offence still isn’t a problem
  2. Defence may still be a problem

Thankfully, it’s still early enough to work through the second thing. And I’m sure if you ask Sheldon Keefe, there is more to take from this game than two points.

Three Stars

1. Auston Matthews

This is a different Matthews. He’s always been a dominant player, but what we’re seeing here is a player who is going to put on a show every night. Back-to-back hat tricks, a feat we haven’t seen since Alex Ovechkin during the 2017-18 season, and six goals in five periods of hockey.

2. William Nylander

Nylander refused to be left behind, scoring two goals of his own, the first of which had some power to it. He also had three high-danger chances on top of his two tucks. The back-to-back opportunities at the end of the second period sparked the team a bit as the Minnesota Wild were in control of the game after Marco Rossi’s goal.

3. Mitch Marner

I thought Marner was fantastic, and although his name wasn’t mentioned as much given the goal scoring, a lot of the goals came from his stick and his effort to maintain possession. I also thought his rush on that first-period penalty kill would’ve been an easy candidate for goal of the year if he managed to beat Filip Gustavsson.

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Bertuzzi is finding his spot

Tyler Bertuzzi getting the initial run as the top line’s left winger was the equivalent of jumping onto a moving train travelling at 200 km/h. Matthews and Marner have an elite skill set and are making passes and plays out there that Bertuzzi hasn’t gotten used to yet. Saturday night was a good step forward for him in establishing his role on the line.

The dirty work in the corners and along the boards is a given, considering the type of player Bertuzzi is. What I noticed from him was more shot attempts, follow-up rebound opportunities from Matthews and situational recognition. Case in point: Matthews’ first goal of the game.

Bertuzzi gained possession of the puck off the faceoff and made a beeline for the front of the net. With Alex Goligoski busy, Matthews had all the time to quickly receive the pass from Marner and bury it.

The kids looked more like their preseason selves

Rookies Matthew Knies and Fraser Minten garnered a lot of attention with their play during those preseason games. Unfortunately, we didn’t get much of it during Game 1, but the two kids looked sturdier in Game 2.

Knies looked better as the game went on. His stop-and-starts on the forecheck are on point, and, like Matthews, he’ll be an impactful stick-checker in this league. Kirill Kaprizov witnessed that firsthand.

Minten had a much stronger game as well. He improved his performance in the faceoff circle after some defensive zone losses and was really comfortable using his stick to break up plays in transition and force it the other way. You can also feel that his first NHL goal is on the horizon. He had three solid chances at it during this game, one of which would’ve come from Marner.

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The power play is off to a hot start

There are some old habits on the Leafs’ man advantage (i.e., the drop pass), but the man advantage went 2-for-3 and is 4-for-7 on the season. Good work, coach Guy Boucher.

The two faces of Ilya Samsonov

An .875 save percentage is better than a .792, so there’s progress in that regard. What we saw Saturday night were two clear faces of Samsonov. There was the locked-in, timely save Samsonov and the negative rebound control Samsonov. The Leafs got more of the former to start the game with huge saves on Brock Faber and Rossi; however, as the game went on, the loose rebounds piled up. The players in front of him weren’t doing the best at times with that, but he settled in once the third period began.

The front of the net …

Luke Schenn was a breath of fresh air. If a player was parked in front of the net, either they were moved or they paid the price to be there. It’s been two games, and I haven’t liked how easy it’s been for the opposition to get to the front of the net for second and third opportunities. It was worse when Samsonov’s rebound control was shaky, but even when he was making those saves, the Wild were still getting body position by the net.

I know this started with a focus on a defenceman, but the forwards didn’t make it easier either. In fact, some of the worst moments of these came off a defensive zone turnover with limited support down low.

Once the Wild made it a 4-3 game, they started sending more bodies to the front of the net and sending shots on the point, looking for deflections. The Montreal Canadiens did the same thing and scored two goals that way. It’s not early enough to panic about it, but it’s early enough to fix it.

Ryan Reaves is at it again

Hat tricks weren’t the only thing the Leafs got in back-to-back games.

Game Score

Final grade: B

The offence that was on display Saturday night is what you need and expect from your top stars. They got the defence-focused, shutout-producing Wild to give up seven goals — that’s a clear positive. The game overall was also much better than what we saw against the Habs. You can applaud the notion of sticking with it, but there are a few things from this game that we can’t shrug off.

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The Leafs were the better team to start and had a 4-1 lead in the second period. They then allowed the Wild to come within one goal, and for a good stretch, it looked as if they might tie it. If I’m coach Sheldon Keefe, I love the fact that your team extended the lead late in the third period, but I also hate the 7-4 goal. The traffic in front of Samsonov is going to snowball, and teams will continue to exploit it if they don’t deal with it.

Take the two points and ride the confidence that Matthews and Nylander have locked in, but they have to clean up their play in front of their net.

What’s next for the Leafs?

The season-opening home stretch at Scotiabank Arena continues Monday against the Chicago Blackhawks. Who scores first, Connor Bedard or Nick Foligno?

(Photo: Andrew Lahodynskyj / NHLI via Getty Images) 

Omar White is a hockey contributor for The Athletic whose main focus is game coverage of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has regularly contributed Leafs coverage to SB Nation and Yahoo Sports.