Toronto Maple Leafs
Maple Leafs’ Quick Hits: Matthews, Tavares & Kase
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a number of players making the news. What “quick hits” are there from this team?
In this edition of Toronto Maple Leafs’ quick hits, I’ll share quick news items about different players on the team. In this post, I’ll look at Auston Matthews’ great month of December. I’ll look at John Tavares, who just celebrated playing his 900th NHL game. Finally, I’ll look at some of the contributions that Ondrej Kase has made to the Maple Leafs during his first season with the team.
Related: Three Takeaways from Maple Leafs’ 6-0 Win Over the Senators
Quick Hit One: Auston Matthews Named NHL’s First Star for December
Today the NHL’s Public Relations announced that Auston Matthews had been named the first star of the month for December. Until last Saturday night’s game, Matthews had a 10-game, point-scoring streak. However, although the Maple Leafs scored six goals during the game, Matthews didn’t score any – nor did he collect an assist.
However, during Matthews’ 10-game point-scoring streak he scored 13 goals and collected 18 points. Over his last seven games before Saturday, he’d scored 10 goals and added four assists for an average of two points per game.
The Vegas Golden Knights’ Max Pacioretty was named the second star and Vancouver Canucks’ goalie Thatcher Demko was named December’s third star. By the way, looking at the 2021 calendar year, Matthews was the top NHL goal scorer with 61 goals.
Quick Hit Two: John Tavares Played in his 900th Career Game on Saturday
John Tavares collected an assist in his 900th career game, which he played against the Senators on Saturday. Probably, part of Tavares is simply happy to be playing. He was one of the first Maple Leafs’ players to test positive for COVID-19 and it hit him hard. He reported that he had experienced pretty heavy symptoms that included a pounding headache, severe body aches, and a complete loss of energy, smell, and taste.
Fortunately, it lasted only a few days and he noted that from last Monday “I started to kind of just feel better every day in terms of my energy and just feeling like myself.”
During Saturday’s game, Tavares had the primary assist on William Nylander’s third-period goal. Tavares is a solid player for the Maple Leafs, but he’s also been a strong player over his entire career. Currently, he’s collected 852 points in 900 regular-season games. This season, he has totaled 13 goals and 20 assists (for 33 points) in his 30 games played.
Quick Hit Three: Ondrej Kase Finds Instant Chemistry with Ilya Mikheyev
When Maple Leafs’ general manager Kyle Dubas signed Ondrej Kase to a one-year $1.25 million deal, it was considered a gamble. Kase had been limited to playing only nine games over his past two seasons because he had experienced a number of concussions. This season he’s been healthy, and his signing seems like genius.
Kase has remained healthy over the season, except for the bruises caused by constantly blocking shots. He’s also been more than an adequate fill-in for an injured Ilya Mikheyev. Now that Mikheyev’s back, Maple Leafs’ fans might just look for a new level of play.
As head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the success of the Senators’ game, “You put a guy like him (Ilya Mikheyev) with Kase and Kampf on that line, and there is a lot to like about it.”
Kase registered a power-play assist in Saturday’s 6-0 win. Not only that, but Keefe referred to what seemed like instant chemistry that Mikheyev had on the third line with both Kase and center David Kampf. That line could be absolutely amazing.
Kase himself is currently riding a six-game point-scoring streak and has eight points (three goals, five assists) during that six-game span. Keefe is playing him everywhere – he plays the penalty kill and on Saturday night he played over four minutes on the team’s power-play. He’s been good for the team.
Related: Maple Leafs’ Quick Hits: 1st Game in Weeks, Medical Decisions & Line Combos
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