The Toronto Maple Leafs were one of the busier teams in the league last week, having four games on their schedule following a stretch of just five games in 15 days to close out November.
They opened a three-game homestand last Monday night against the Chicago Blackhawks. They continued playing on home ice against the Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals before heading to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins on Saturday night. Despite a promising start to week nine of their season, beating Chicago and Nashville, Toronto dropped consecutive games to Washington and Pittsburgh, closing out the week going 2-2-0 in the four games.
3rd star: Auston Matthews
Week 9 stats: 4 GP – 3 G – 2 A – 5 PTS
Season stats: 18 GP – 8 G – 10 A – 18 PTS
Auston Matthews missed nine games in November due to an injury that forced him to travel to Germany while his team kept the momentum rolling without him. The Maple Leafs went 7-2-0 in his absence. Since returning to the lineup, they’ve won three of five games.
It’s no secret that Matthews hasn’t been as dominant as last season. After all, he is coming off a 69-goal campaign, which is hard to replicate. But his start to the season hasn’t been the greatest compared to his peers. Fortunately, he was able to show flashes of his vintage self during Toronto’s four-game schedule last week.
He opened the week with a goal against the Blackhawks, thanks to a sweet feed from William Nylander as Matthews snuck behind the defence to tuck his sixth goal of the season underneath Arvid Soderblom. He continued that goalscoring the following game against Nashville, as he and Mitch Marner sparked a third-period barrage of goals to beat the Predators. He ended the week with a two-assist night against the Penguins.
2nd star: Anthony Stolarz
Week 9 stats: 2 GP – 1-1-0 – 1.51 GAA – .943 SV%
Season stats: 15 GP – 8-5-2 – 2.22 GAA – .924 SV% – 1 SO
Goaltending has been one of the many strengths for the Maple Leafs this season, thanks to Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz, who earned himself another Star of the Week after two fantastic showings against the Blackhawks and Capitals.
Stolarz got the starting nod to open the week against Chicago. The team didn’t look their sharpest, but their free agent signing this past summer was on his game, stopping 27 of the 28 shots the road team recorded. Toronto’s goalies have generally split the workload this season, rotating starts, so his next start didn’t come until Friday night against Washington as they closed out their three-game homestand. Unfortunately, despite another good showing in the crease, he couldn’t pick up the win, as Toronto dropped that game 3-1.
The 6-foot-6 netminder’s play this season has leapfrogged him into the top five in GAA and SV% among goalies this season. And his partner, Joseph Woll, is right there with him too, as the Maple Leafs own the league’s third-best save percentage with a .918, only trailing Winnipeg (.920) and Minnesota (.926).
1st star: Mitch Marner
Week 9 stats: 4 GP – 1 G – 6 A – 7 PTS
Season stats: 27 GP – 10 G – 28 A – 38 PTS
We’re starting to run out of things to say about Mitch Marner, who’s arguably playing the best hockey of his career in the last year of a six-year contract. In the absence of Matthews, Marner was unstoppable. He recorded 15 points in nine games, seven being multi-point performances. Since Matthews’ return, the Markham, Ontario native hasn’t slowed down. Not one bit.
In the four games last week, Marner scored his 10th goal of the season against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night to tie the game at one and added six assists to go with it for a total of seven points, propelling him into the top five of the league scoring with 38 points, tied with Florida’s Sam Reinhart.
His efforts thus far have legitimately put him in the early conversation for multiple awards, such as the Art Ross, Hart and Selke, as he has been the team’s best player through 27 games.
