We’re officially back from the Olympic break, and the hiatus didn’t provide any new results. With an impetus to play their best hockey of the year, facing an uphill battle to climb back into the playoffs, the Toronto Maple Leafs were instead thumped 4-2 by the Tampa Bay Lightning, a scoreline that would’ve looked even worse, if it weren’t for Toronto’s ace video team of Jordan Bean and Sam Kim.

John Tavares and Matthew Knies scored late third-period goals for the Maple Leafs, with the result already in the balance. Brayden Point scored twice and added an assist, Nikita Kucherov scored once with two assists, while Gage Goncalves finished with a goal and two assists of his own in the comprehensive win.

There’s no point in further preamble. Here are three takeaways from the Leafs’ loss to the Lightning: 

Auston Matthews captained the United States to its first Olympic gold medal in men’s hockey since 1980. Matthews was one of the United States’ best players and celebrated as he deserved to, before joining his teammates at the White House on Tuesday. While there was some speculation that Matthews would miss Wednesday’s game, that notion wasn’t ever taken seriously as Matthews was always going to suit up for his club team upon returning, if only to avoid further controversy.

Unfortunately for the Leafs, Matthews’ excellent Olympic form didn’t translate Wednesday. He did not engage in puck battles with the same fervour he did in Milano Cortina, and it took a while to do anything of notice. Matthews was invisible for large portions of the game, and he wasn’t skating with the same explosiveness and lateral quickness he’s displayed since Christmas.

Matthews did not record a shot through the first two periods, and he was flatly outplayed at 5-on-5 by Yanni Gourde. It wasn’t a terrible game, but Matthews was expected to win his individual matchups handily, especially after a dominant showing in the Olympic gold medal contest, where he was universally lauded for his two-way performance against Canada.

Toronto needed Matthews to be a face-of-the-league superstar on Wednesday, and really, for the duration of the season, if it is to make the playoffs for the 10th consecutive year. It was a blank showing overall by the Maple Leafs, best exemplified from their captain.

We’ve written this several times in this space, but it’s perhaps most urgent now: there’s no reason why Easton Cowan should be a healthy scratch, with Calle Jarnkrok in the lineup over the 20-year-old rookie.

Cowan hasn’t played at any level since January 29, where he received 9:44 of ice time against the Seattle Kraken. He was ineligible to join the AHL’s Toronto Marlies over the Olympic break, so it should’ve been imperative to get him in meaningful action as soon as possible. Instead, Cowan was forced to watch, while Jarnkrok received minutes on the fourth line with Steven Lorentz and Scott Laughton: it’s worth remembering the instant chemistry Lorentz, Laughton and Cowan showed during the preseason, and upon Laughton’s return during the regular season.

More to the point: Jarnkrok was arguably the Leafs’ least effective forward on Wednesday, and really hasn’t made a positive impact since the opening week of the season, where he scored in three consecutive games. Cowan, Jacob Quillan and the rest of the Maple Leafs’ youth movement need to take precedence in the coming weeks.

It isn’t fun to discussing players in terms of their relative trade value, but this is where we’re at this season. Oliver Ekman-Larsson submitted a strong showing again for the Maple Leafs and was their best defenceman Wednesday, which is perhaps little surprise, as he’s been the team’s best defender all year. Ekman-Larsson recorded three shots, he was active off the rush, and took personal offence to Gage Goncalves getting into the crease, after putting the Lightning up 2-0.

Ekman-Larsson is also the Maple Leafs’ best trade asset ahead of the trade deadline. If the Maple Leafs can get a first-round pick for the veteran defenceman, it would be considered a win for general manager Brad Treliving. There’s no way the current group should stay pat and selling high on Ekman-Larsson may be the quickest route to recouping some much-needed future assets.

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