That is correct for 2020, although in a normal year Game 5 would never have been a winner take all. However it's still wrong how you worded it because in three previous Game 5's Matthews had 2 goals and 1 assist between 2017-2019.
It could be a best of 3 and the answer would still be the same. Whether it's game 3/5/7, the final game is the winner-take-all game.
Like I said before yes it's true that Matthews has not scored any goals or assists in winner take all games for Toronto.
Kudos to him. I remember that game vividly. However, they were an extremely inexperienced group facing the President's Trophy winner. The fact that the series went 6 games is a testament to how great the Leafs played.
My main point was his performance in winner-take-all games. Across the board he's been solid.
No one is putting all the blame on Matthews. It is a collective team issue that they keep folding. However, Leaf fans continuously praise and hype up Matthews as if he is one of the best players in the league and is arguably the best goal-scorer in the league. Well then why hasn't he shown up when it counts? If he is the player you say he is (the great goal-scorer and offensive talent that your fan base hype him up to be), and he is the best player on the team, then why doesn't he have anything to show for it when it matters most?
Just because you push it further, doesn't mean you can sit back. You still have work to do.
If he scored in any of the games, do you think that the Leafs don't advance at least once? It's a team game yes, but when your best player repeatedly doesn't show up when you need him the most, as the leader and best player of the team, he should shoulder lots of blame.
Even if Toronto had lost Game 4 in overtime and were eliminated, Matthews had the primary assists on John Tavares goal that made it 3-2 and Zach Hyman's goal that tied the game 3-3.
Maybe if Mike Babcock had played Matthews over 20:00 of ice time he would have had scored in those games.
More ice time =/= more production
I'm not the Maple Leafs fan on here who always mentions Matthews P/60 stats and how it makes him better than some other players. I'm just posting what his ice time in those games were and nothing more.
That's fair, however the point still stands.
Like I said before it was frustrating to see Matthews play a total of 18:48 against Boston in Game 7 during their 2019 playoff series, because going into the 3rd period they were only losing by a score of 2-1. I know the Bruins scored at the 2:40 mark to extend their lead to 3-1. However that was no excuse for Babcock not to play Matthews more that night. It wasn't until the Bruins made it 4-1 with their empty net goal at the 17:26 mark that put the game out of reach. That type of coaching decision by Babcock should have got him fired the next day and Kyle Dubas wanted to do that, however Brendan Shanahan thought he should have stayed on. Although that's a decision Shanahan later admitted was a mistake.
Babcock mismanaged his players no question, but that doesn't excuse the rest of the time he is on the ice. He can still score can't he?
Matthews has proven to be one of the best goal scoring forwards since his rookie season. He's finished T-2 with 40 goals as a rookie and this past season he was 3rd in goals with 47. With stats like that him winning at least one if not multiple Rocket Richard Trophy's should eventually happen. Since he finished 1 goal behind Ovechkin and Pastrnak this past season, if all 82 games were played and he remained healthy, he could have very easily won it this year.
What does any of this have to do with (a) his TOI in the playoffs, (b) his inability to score in crucial games in the playoffs, and (c) Babcock?
Yes, they do count them (they shouldn't though but whatever). However, what does that have to do with our discussion?
You don't have to, it's of no use. However, the people that do religiously use it, I hope they see my post.
I personally think Matthews has been unlucky not to have scored any goals in those deciding Game 7's and Game 5.
I literally said that he doesn't show up in the crucial games. His stats are fine.
No, what you've done is jump to an odd conclusion off of a ridiculous sample size of 50-something minutes cherry picked and patched together from multiple different years and series, while ignoring all context that enters into production (especially in the playoffs), and the other parts of the sample that counter your conclusion. Players don't score every single game.
It’s ridiculous to say that he’s such an efficient scorer as his P/60 stats show and then has nothing to show for it in the most important game of the season.
What is ridiculous is cherry picking a couple individual games from the playoffs that a player does not score in (against the best defensive teams in the league, no less) to create an arbitrary sample of pitiful size, to discredit his abilities that have been proven over a massive sample. Once again, players do not score every single game. Literally every player has playoff games where they do not score, including Toews. Stats you dislike aren't wrong just because you use them incorrectly.
This entire post is a huge excuse for why he doesn't get the job done when it matters most. Like your friend LN75, I have stated that he is a fine playoff performer (his stats are fine across the board). My issue with him is only 1: he has done nothing in the most important game of the season for his team. I bet more than often had he done anything, the Leafs advance at least once in the last 3 years. That was what our whole discussion was (between me and LN75). It's not cherry picked because the conversation revolved only around that.
Yes every player does not score every single time, but it's weird how the most efficient scorer in the league (especially 5 on 5 to which the playoffs are mainly played in) repeatedly gets shut out in every winner-take-all game. Toews actually gets the job done.
