2-1 overtime win for the United States<\/a>, many of the Leafs\u2019 personal allegiances were vindicated: Their captain, the American captain, Auston Matthews, was an Olympic champion.<\/p>\n\u201cEveryone\u2019s cheering for their own country, but ultimately I think there\u2019s a lot of guys in here that were sneaky rooting for Auston and hoping he was going to get it done,\u201d Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly said.<\/p>\n
Getting it done, as it were, has not always come easily for Matthews. The Leafs centre has been dogged by the perception that he cannot win big games when it matters. Matthews is a generational goal scorer, but his last gold medal came in the 2015 World Under-18 Championship. The best result from his two stints at the World Juniors was a bronze medal. Matthews was on the ice as Connor McDavid scored the overtime goal to give Canada the 4 Nations Face-Off win last year.<\/p>\n
And of course, Matthews has just two playoff round wins to his name over 10 seasons in Toronto. Throughout his NHL career, Matthews has played six Game 7s and one Game 5 \u2014 the final game of the 2020 qualifying round \u2014 and in those seven games, Matthews has three assists and seven losses.<\/p>\n
But after Sunday\u2019s win, Matthews stood draped in an American flag with a giant smile he hasn\u2019t always worn during his time in Toronto.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was the goal,\u201d Matthews told TSN\u2019s Ryan Rishaug postgame. \u201cYou want to put yourself in a position to be able to do something like this. It\u2019s been a long time for the (United States). I couldn\u2019t be happier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthews\u2019 resume now looks much different. He is the captain of the first U.S. men\u2019s team to win an Olympic hockey gold medal since 1980. For one day, there was an ocean separating him from the questions he\u2019s faced and the struggles he\u2019s endured in Toronto.<\/p>\n
So, does captaining an Olympic gold medal-winning team change Matthews\u2019 legacy?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s got a lot of runway left to work with in his career,\u201d Rielly said. \u201cBut if you put \u2018Olympic gold medal\u2019 next to his name forever, I think that does a lot. If you look at guys who are on the bubble of the Hall of Fame, that kind of thing, you throw a gold medal there and that changes things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthews logged a primary assist on the United States\u2019 opening goal in the gold medal game and finished tied for second on his team in tournament scoring. Three goals and seven points in six games is one thing. Captaining his team to a win is another: Matthews was hardly a unanimous choice to wear the \u201cC\u201d while sharing a roster with the likes of Stanley Cup winners Jack Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk.<\/p>\n
But now, Matthews will meet his Leafs teammates in Tampa on Tuesday \u2014 head coach Craig Berube confirmed Matthews would not fly to Toronto but to the United States before the Leafs\u2019 game against the Lightning \u2014 with a career-altering win in tow.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoesn\u2019t matter what anyone says now, Auston Matthews is a winner,\u201d Team USA forward Jack Hughes said during a postgame press conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what the media in Toronto should be talking about,\u201d U.S. defenceman Quinn Hughes added. \u201cAuston led us to a championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so perhaps captaining a team to an Olympic gold medal will change the way Matthews is seen in the hockey world. He has long been fodder for criticism. Matthews is one of the greatest goal scorers of all time, but the Leafs\u2019 lack of playoff success hangs over his head. He has a Hart Trophy in his cabinet and is a three-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner, yet his decline in form at times this season and his struggles with injury mean criticism could continue in Toronto.<\/p>\n
To those who have watched Matthews closely throughout his career, his performance in the Olympics could provide some reason to soften any criticism. He back-checked and played defensively stout hockey throughout the tournament. Matthews showed a newfound physical edge, too, in addition to his offensive prowess.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Matthews) does so many things that he really doesn\u2019t get credit for,\u201d Rielly said. \u201cSo for him to go out there and be captain of an Olympic gold medal-winning team is special.\u201d<\/p>\n
To celebrate Sunday\u2019s win, Matthews skated around the ice holding a Johnny Gaudreau USA jersey. He then stood arm in arm with his teammates and sang \u201cThe Star-Spangled Banner.\u201d Matthews looked like he had all tournament \u2014 a leader in his own right, and a winner when it mattered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Toronto Maple Leafs did as millions of North Americans did Sunday morning: They watched Canada play the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[5,20,5172,54125,4,66,31,5171],"class_list":{"0":"post-467920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-maple-leafs","10":"tag-mapleleafs","11":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-toronto","14":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","15":"tag-torontomapleleafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116119067916583925","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}