Matthews scores two again as Leafs dominate the Can-sucks

The Leafs had a dominant game against Vancouver on Thursday, and they made sure not to disappoint again tonight, as they played another strong game on route to a 5-1 victory.

The Leafs started with another strong period against the Canucks, as they once again had the advantage in possession (62.69%) and scoring chances (59.94%), and it showed up in the goal department. First, they got another powerplay goal (their 15th of the season already) off of a Simmonds goal with a shot that looked a lot like a James van Riemsdyk net front goal.

After another power play that got no results, Matthews put the Leafs up 2-0 with a goal so filthy I looked behind me to make sure no one would see me watching it.

The Canucks got their first big chance of the game early in the second as Pettersson got a chance with a wide open net, but a bad bounce saw him fan on the shot.

And it’ll probably be something that he sees in his nightmares tonight as Zach Hyman buried a nice Mikko Lehtonen pass to make it 3-0.

The Canucks finally got a goal later in the period, but it was offside, and after a challenge review, it got called back, and the Leafs would have a 3-0 lead going into the third.

The Leafs kept the goals coming in the third, as both Matthews and Simmonds got another goal to make it 5-0. Matthews’ goal would be his league leading 10th of the season, while Simmonds’ would make him tied for third on the team in goals.

The Canucks would break the shutout bid with less than 3 minutes to go as Brock Boeser would score on the power play, but it was too little too late to start the offense.

Auston Matthews extended his goal streak to seven games, with nine goals during that streak, and his fourth in two games against the Canucks, all while dominating play with 72.66% of the shot share, and 78.77% of the scoring chances while on the ice.

The Tavares line was pretty quiet tonight in a relatively loud game, but the nice thing about having two elite lines is that one can be quite when the other is as hot as the Matthews line is right now.

I don’t really have any complaints with this game. They played really well again, started to slip up in the third, but they were up 5-0 so you can’t really complain, and it was another dominant win against a bad team, as it should be.

Up next, the Leafs finish their three game series against the Canucks looking to sweep the series, while the Canucks will look to win by nine goals so that they can win the series on aggregate. The game will be on Monday at 7:00pm EST, broadcasted by Sportsnet.