Auston Matthews caps Leafs shot show against Ducks with historic OT winner

ANAHEIM, Calif. — has a flair for the dramatic. Matthews couldn't buy a goal Wednesday night despite myriad attempts, but he finally scored in overtime for a 2 1 win over the Anaheim Ducks and in doing so joined an elite group of 30 goal scorers. “He's found another level here in the last month or so,” said Maple Leafs coach .

“I don't know how many (goals) he could have had here tonight. I think he finished with 13 shots and 20 attempts. So he was bound to get one. Obviously a big win for us. “But yeah, he's been great for us. We've been playing a much better team game of late and that's important.

But within the team game you need the difference makers to step up and do their thing. And certainly Auston's done that.” MATTHEWS OT WINNER vs Anaheim Ducks courtesy of Joe Bowen and Jim Ralph. 1/3/2024 Matthews indeed took 13 shots on red hot Lukas Dostal, who set an Anaheim team record with 55 saves.

The Leafs didn't score until their 50th shot, a power play goal by . Matthews then connected in overtime not just for the win but also to become only the 10th player in NHL history to score at least 30 goals in each of his first eight seasons. “He's due every night with the amount of looks he gets,” Tavares said of Matthews.

“How elite of a player he is, and how he's always able to find space and create opportunities for himself, knowing where to be on the ice, getting pucks off the pass and get the looks that he gets and how he can generate stuff from nothing. We know he can score from anywhere. So good to see him get it.” Leafs centre Auston Matthews protects the puck from Ducks centre Trevor Zegras during their NHL game on January 3, 2024 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Matthews is only the second player in Maple Leafs history to register eight consecutive 30 goal seasons, joining Darryl Sittler, whose streak started in 1973 74, his fourth season. Matthews also joined Sittler and Mats Sundin as the only Maple Leafs with at least eight 30 goal seasons overall; Sundin had 10.

The winner Wednesday was also Matthews' 10th career overtime goal, tying him with William Nylander. Both trail Sundin (14) for the franchise mark. And though he's on pace for 69 goals this season, Matthews didn't want to talk about himself after the game. “It's fine,” he said of being the first NHLer to reach 30 goals this season.

“The team is playing right. And I think our process has been really good throughout the last four or five games and obviously the last two games. Getting the results that you want is the most important thing.” The Leafs started this road trip with two wins in two nights and will finish their trip to California on Saturday in San Jose.

now seem to be a thing of the past with Martin Jones posting a shutout on Tuesday, then allowing only one goal – short handed to Frank Vatrano – on 28 shots by Anaheim. Leafs goaltender Martin Jones takes a shot off his mask during the second period against the Ducks at Honda Center on January 3, 2024 in Anaheim, California.

Jones had to be at his best because Dostal, who came into the game with an .893 save percentage, was putting on a show at the other end. “That was pretty impressive. It was fun to watch, honestly,” said Jones. “We did a great job just sticking with it, just keeping to our game plan, just kept attacking.

Eventually the dam broke and we were able to get a couple of goals.” The biggest save belonged to ex Leafs defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin, who got his blade down on the goal line just in time when it looked as if Matthews was going to score on a wraparound early in the first period. Ilya Lyubushkin, third from left, gets his stick on a loose puck in front of Ducks defenceman Cam Fowler and goaltender Lukas Dostal to save a goal as Leafs forward Mitch Marner looks on during the first period at Honda Center on January 3, 2024 in Anaheim, California.

The Leafs went with Jones in net to try to build some momentum. That disappointed the faction of the fan base that often wants to see the shiny new object — in this case, . But Jones was coming off a shutout and the travel from Tuesday's game in Los Angeles amounted to a 40 minute drive. Keefe figured he could handle it.

Plus, the Ducks aren't exactly a strong team and Keefe has been on his players about dominating such teams. “It's been an ongoing conversation I guess you could connect to the goaltending situation,” said Keefe. “It's hard for us to have that conversation on one hand and the other hand goes with a goalie that has never played in the league when you got another guy coming off a shutout.

We want to build a positive momentum here as a group.” Hildeby will get his chance in net, but he's not going to be thrown to the wolves. The team wants him to get his footing. “Every day in the NHL for any guy who hasn't been here before is a chance to experience something new,” said Keefe.

“I actually was looking at him down on the bench during the game (in Los Angeles) and just thinking how for him it's the first time sitting on an NHL bench watching an NHL game from that perspective. So just doing that is valuable experience for him. “We'll see how things go in the next little while.

We expect we're going to need him here at some point. So we got to give him all these experiences and let him soak in all that. At the same time, we've got to make the right decisions for our team and for our group.” Pontus Holmberg drew in on the third line after missing the game in Los Angeles as a healthy scratch.

That pushed Nick Robertson to the press box for the 22 year old's first time as a healthy scratch this season. “I was reluctant to make any changes just because I thought we played so well as a group (in Los Angeles). But Holmberg for me did a really good job in the Carolina game and I'm looking for ways to keep him involved.” Keefe said he thought Max Domi's line had trouble getting out of their own zone and figured Holmberg would help with that.

Ducks coach Greg Cronin is in his first season as an NHL head coach. He had been an assistant in Toronto under Ron Wilson and Randy Carlyle. Defenceman Morgan Rielly is the only link on the Leafs team to those days. “I was looking at that,” said Cronin. “Even management. Everybody's gone.

I really enjoyed coaching there. It's a great city. To me it's like the New York Yankees of hockey and you know we had we had that great year and when we lost to the Bruins, , I'm sure all the Leafs fans remember that. There was some rough times there on both sides of that season, but it was a blessing to work there.”.