Toronto Maple Leafs: 3 observations from 4-3 comeback win over the Blackhawks

2) Auston Matthews seals off a dominant performance

Is any one surprised anymore when they see Matthews dominate and come up in a key moment?

While the Leafs were struggling to get things going in the first period, it was Matthews, William Nylander and Zach Hyman who were trying to get something going. Most notably, at the end of the period the trio had a shift to remember as they were relentless in the Blackhawks end but could not get one by Forsberg.

The impressive part about Matthews’ game tonight was that he was trusted to go up against Patrick Kane‘s line and it did not impact their ability to create scoring chances. In the second and third period, that line was unstoppable and did everything but score as Matthews, Nylander and Hyman had their fair share of chances.

There were also times where Matthews’ was relentless in his puck pressure and came away with some takeaways. However, there was one play that could have been another highlight for Matthews but he was unable to get the puck by Forsberg after a nice toe drag move.

In overtime, it was only fitting that the player who asserted his dominance for the majority of the game would get rewarded somehow. Only certain players can pull off the shot that sealed the win for the Leafs. The release and placement is one that Forsberg had no chance on and it had everyone on twitter looking for replays and gifs to watch over and over again.

The overtime goal was Matthews’ ninth game-winning goal and his second career overtime goal. It would not be surprising to see Matthews have another 40-goal campaign and that should have Leafs fans excited considering the team has not had a player put two straight 40-plus goal seasons since Rick Vaive did it in 1982-83 and 1983-84.