Fort Lauderdale – Auston Matthews snatched a fought shot. Sergei Bobrovsky chose her clean air.
The captain of the Maple Leafs then had a few electric looks, the Panthers goalkeeper smothered before exploding another washer in match 4 of their second round eliminatory series.
Matthews is used to fill the net. The Captain of Toronto has twice managed 60 goals in the regular season, especially down 70 in 2023-24.
The playoffs often have more challenges because opponents are worn and the defenses are tightening. Matthews, however, has so far dismissed whites – and many of them – against Florida with the best of seven matches 2-2.
The 27-year-old man, from which the team was excluded 2-0 in an unruly representation of Sunday where the Panthers dominated which, sometimes, looked like the inclined ice, is aimless in the series.
He scored twice in the first round against the Senators of Ottawa, including in the victory of the Toronto series, but has little to show for his 75 firing attempts in 10 eliminatory games this spring.
Matthews, who treated an upper body injury in the regular season which briefly saw him going to Germany for treatment, jumped ice training sessions in these qualifying series. He reached the target 35 times, but his 40 other efforts have been blocked or missed the net.
Leafs head coach Craig Berube said on Monday before flying north for match 5 on Wednesday at home that he continued to remind his Superstar center that the goals will come.
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“You must continue to play,” said Berube in the footsteps of the beach team a rainy Monday in southern Florida. “I understand, but he does a lot of other things in the game that really dictates things. Do a great job with many other areas. He must just continue to focus on this.
“He is there to kill penalties, he goes against the first line, he checks, he works, he is in competition – a lot of good things. We would like him to score and he too. It is not easy to score in the playoffs … I am not too worried.”
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Matthews, who has three assists in the series, was questioned after match 4 if he felt under the net of snakes around the net of the panthers.
“The chances were there,” he told Bank Arena de Sunrise. “I just have to do a better work of bypass.”
The Leafs winger Mitch Marner, meanwhile, had two consecutive games without shooting since he scored the winner in a 4-3 victory which gave Toronto an advance of 2-0-that which has since evaporated in a confrontation of the Atlantic division which will now be decided as a better of three.
“Your best guys, they sometimes seek to become too good,” said Berube. “There are times when we could put more rings on the net on angles – bad angles – just to pull it there … It goes from someone, bounces.
“I understand what (Marner) tries to do. He wants to improve the luck. He is a smuggler first, but we need him to shoot rings. Two games without shooting, he must pull the washer.”
Toronto gathered only four shots on three second -time power games Sunday after Florida connected once in four opportunities in the first.
“They came hard with pressure,” said Berube about the penalty of the panthers. “I didn’t think we are doing well enough.”
Matthews, meanwhile, puts enormous pressure on himself to be an offensive catalyst. His coach continues to harass a simple message.
“He’s going to get his look,” said Berube. “Simply stay with what it does and not be too frustrated by anything – it is not only a question of scoring.
“The big goal is coming. This is how you have to think about it.”
Stuff
The Leafs striker Max Domi was sentenced to a fine of US $ 5,000 by the NHL’s security department after having crushed the captain of the Panthers Aleksander Barkov in the boards from behind to trigger a melee at the final buzzer on Sunday.
Berube, however, saw a elbow at the back of Marner’s head of the Florida defender, Dmitry Kulikov – which took place – earlier in the night as much more blatant.
“Kulikov’s blow on Marner was 10 times worse,” he said.
The changes to come?
Berube said that after match 4, he would think of the programming adjustments for Wednesday, but had not seemed completely enthusiastic about the idea some 12 hours later.
“I liked the way our team played,” he said. “They get four power games in the first period, and they end up capitalizing on one at the end. We obtain three power games in the second period, and we do not capitalize.
“If we scored, it’s 1-1 per game. It’s close. It’s right there.”
This Canadian press report was published for the first time on May 12, 2025.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press