Auston Matthews quote shows a team who is in over their heads

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Joshua Deeds
May 9, 2022 (5:59 PM)

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The Maple Leafs started the series strong, with a defining win in game 1, but 1 game doesn't make a series. After being beat 7-3, David Alter spoke with Auston Matthews on the disappointing game 4 loss, which he called a missed opportunity.

I think you could kind of say that about any loss would be an opportunity missed. But it was a great opportunity. We obviously let that one slip. But at the same time it's not gonna be easy there. You know that they're gonna answer back and now it's our turn to to have our answer here.

It seemed like more than a missed opportunity due to the fact, that it took William Nylander late in the game to start the scoring. Matthews has hit a roadblock with the 2-time cup winners. William Nylander contributed twice and Jake Muzzin put up a goal, while Auston didn't contribute to the scoring drive.

This is the team that let Pat Maroon get one upon them!

Has Auston given up?

While Tavares is absolutely to blame for ghosting this team, Matthews and Marner need to be driving the offensive output instead of relying upon secondary scoring to win.

Even Sheldon Keefe knows this team needs to be greedy with points, as he said he hasn't seen this team play their best hockey this series.

You can quibble about the fourth line construction, or the third pair names, but at the end of the day, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are getting their lunch fed to them by the shutdown line of Killorn-Point-Cirelli, and maybe more importantly, Victor Hedman and Erik Cernak.