Toronto’s captain has come home wearing gold, and the Maple Leafs are hoping he brings that championship touch with him.
The captain of both the Leafs and the victorious U.S. team at the Milan Cortina Olympics, gold medalist Auston Matthews and his squad will try to start a strong stretch run Wednesday night when they play the host Tampa Bay Lightning.
Matthews, who leads the team with 26 goals and is second to William Nylander with 48 points, assisted on Matt Boldy’s opening goal that gave the Americans a 1-0 lead in Sunday’s gold-medal game.
Even the Canada-bred members of the Maple Leafs who saw their country take home silver medals expressed happiness for their teammate amidst “bittersweet” personal disappointment.
Vancouver native and Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly watched the deciding game at the team’s practice facility.
“For the Toronto Maple Leafs, that’s best-case, in my opinion. To watch your guy be the captain of an Olympic gold-medal winning team, it’s pretty cool,” said Rielly. “If you put ‘Olympic gold medal champion’ next to your name, that adds a lot. He earned it and he’s the captain.”
Toronto coach Craig Berube, an Alberta product, agreed, saying, “We’re very happy for Auston. … Big boost for him.”
With 25 contests left, Toronto is tied with the Ottawa Senators for fifth in the Eastern Conference wild-card standings with 63 points, six behind the Boston Bruins in the final playoff spot.
Holding a three-game winning streak, the Leafs are tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the third-longest active stretch of victories amidst Eastern Conference teams.
One of the teams with a longer streak? The Lightning.
Tampa Bay resumes the season having won five consecutive outings, including a fight-filled clash with the rival Florida Panthers, whom it beat 6-1 nearly three weeks ago.
The Lightning are atop the Atlantic Division standings by six points over the Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings despite having played at least two fewer games than both.
In Toronto on Dec. 8, Tampa Bay was blanked 2-0 as goaltender Dennis Hildeby, the Leafs’ fourth option in training camp, stopped 29 shots in the first of three matchups.
The squad just wants to restart where it left off, but two more ailments along the blue line — a recurring obstacle — may force a move before the March 6 trade deadline.
Max Crozier (core muscle surgery) is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season. Captain Victor Hedman sustained a lower-body injury while representing Sweden in the Olympics but said he expects to be available vs. Toronto.
“As is usually the case, cap space is going to be a challenge, but we’ll see,” GM Julien BriseBois said last month. “We’re always on the lookout for ways to improve our team. And just as in years past, we’re not only focused on this year, we’re focused on future years as well.”
The defensive group has been banged up since the outset of the season.
Hedman has already missed 34 games with an elbow injury, while Ryan McDonagh missed 33 but has played four times since returning. Emil Lilleberg (23 games), Erik Cernak (19) and Darren Raddysh (six) have all been sidelined as well.
An emerging offensive force in place of Hedman on the 12th-ranked power play (22.4%), Raddysh has 17 goals and 35 assists in 49 games.
The Toronto native, who turns 30 Saturday, would be a highly prized defenseman in free agency if not re-signed by Tampa Bay by July 1.
