Toronto Maple Leafs fans are up in arms after one of their star players was scarcely used in the finals minutes with their team down a goal to the Washington Capitals.
Leading scorer Auston Matthews played just 19 seconds in the final 2:33 minutes. Instead, third line centre Alex Kerfoot occupied one of the six spots. Head coach Mike Babcock was criticized last season for not giving Matthews enough minutes and Leafs fans didn’t take it easy on him after his squad failed to tie things up.
Some fans also expressed their opinion that the Leafs simply couldn’t get a proper change in.
After averaging just 18:33 minutes of ice last season, Matthews has seen a bump to 18:53 but his total doesn’t come close to some of the league’s top players. Edmonton Oilers forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are both crunching more minutes with 22:30 and 24:23 respectively. Mitch Marner leads all forwards with 19:44.
Matthews actually led all Leafs forwards with 20:50 minutes of ice on Wednesday night. He and the Leafs will look to right the ship when they host the Bruins at home on Saturday.
