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Maple Leafs’ Matias Maccelli on game-winning goal: ‘It felt even better doing it against my old team’
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Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Michael Mazzei
Nov 6, 2025, 09:15 ESTUpdated: Nov 6, 2025, 10:52 EST
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Toronto Maple Leafs forward Matias Maccelli had plenty of motivation going into Wednesday’s game against the Utah Mammoth.
Having sat out the previous contest as a healthy scratch, while facing off against his former team for the first time since being traded on June 30th, Maccelli responded by having his best showing of the season so far with his first multi-point game since January 16th. He registered a primary assist on Auston Matthews’ tying goal before scoring the eventual game-winner in the third period with a wrister from the slot that beat Vitek Vanecek cleanly.
“Great team win,” Maccelli said post-game. “Personally, it felt even better doing it against my old team, and getting that game-winner too feels really good.”
Maccelli admitted that being forced to watch Monday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins gave him a bit of extra fuel to have a strong showing against guys he had played alongside for the better part of four years before the aforementioned trade. He had one interaction with former linemate Lawson Crouse, but Maccelli said it was nothing more than a couple of stare-downs.
“We were giving it to him before the game, so you knew he was going to be ready for this one,” Matthews said of Maccelli. “He was all over it tonight. Slippery, made a great pass to me on my goal, and just seemed like the puck was following him all around tonight. Big goal for us there, and I’m sure that one feels good, especially against his old team.”
When describing what was going through his head on the setup for Matthews’ goal, Maccelli simply stated that he spotted the open man and fed the hot hand. Head coach Craig Berube said that the goal of the healthy scratch was to get a bit more out of Maccelli, and it was mission accomplished based on how well things went for him in Wednesday’s win.
“ I mean, it’s motivation obviously. So yeah, it was a good bounce back,” Maccelli said.

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