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Matthews Breaks Silence After Major Criticism Over Playoff Goal Drought
Auston Matthews has played well in the post-season, but his goal drought has become a major story, and now he's opened up on that situation.
The Toronto Maple Leafs face a crucial Game 5 against the Florida Panthers on Wednesday that may define their post-season run thus far, but the other thing that has been at the forefront of Maple Leafs talking points thus far has been Auston Matthews goal scoring struggles.
While the captain is playing on the penalty kill and thriving as a leader for his team, he has just two goals in 10 games played, giving many a reason for major concern about the ceiling of this team in 2025.
Now, he's addressed those struggles, and while it's clearly weighing on him a little, he's remaining confident that as long as he keeps getting those chances, the goals will eventually come.
The chances have been there, I think I just gotta do a better job of bearing down on some of them. For the most part throughout the four games, we've been winning shifts, generating chances against tough matchups.
Obviously, you wanna score, I wanna score, but we'll continue to get those opportunities and capitalize and go from there.
Obviously, you wanna score, I wanna score, but we'll continue to get those opportunities and capitalize and go from there.
Head Coach Craig Berube also talked about the situation, and it appears he's confident as well, and he believes that as long as Matthews believes the big goal is coming, it eventually will.
«The big goal is coming. That's the way you have to think about it. Who knows when it'll happen? But he's going to get his looks. He does a lot of things in a lot of other areas. Stick to what's he's doing, don't get frustrated.»
Ultimately, this team has been good without Matthews scoring, but to make this team great they need him to do just that, and if that happens, their ceiling rises exponentially.
| POLL | ||
MAI 13 | 126 ANSWERS Matthews Breaks Silence After Major Criticism Over Playoff Goal Drought Will the Maple Leafs reach the Stanley Cup Finals in 2025? | ||
| Yes | 35 | 27.8 % |
| No | 91 | 72.2 % |
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