Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews had his best attempt yet at pulling off the Michigan during Monday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Early in the third period, forward Pontus Holmberg generated a scoring chance on a partial breakaway and collected his rebound. As he was battling two defenders in the corner, he sent the puck to the open side, which Matthews gathered. In a split second, Matthews suddenly lifted the puck up to go for a Michigan goal but was thwarted by Lightning goalie Jonas Johansson before he could tuck it in on the short side.

“I didn’t see any other option. The puck was rolling,” Matthews said of the attempt post-game. “It was the beginning of the period, so the tape was fresh. I almost had it. I kinda quit attempting those couple years ago, but I just thought that was a reasonable attempt and had a pretty good opportunity.”

Matthews added he was a bit surprised that Johansson was able to cover the corner of the net as quickly as he did but also noted that the Lightning defender was closing in on him fast so he made do with what he was given.

Toronto’s captain was referring to a roughly four-year stretch from 2019 to 2022 in which he occasionally attempted the Michigan goal in a game but came up short every time. It had been nearly three years since Matthews last went for it when he had another similar close chance against the Vancouver Canucks on March 5, 2022.

Even though Matthews’ latest attempt failed once more, the dressing room was abuzz with excitement as everyone was rooting for him to finally succeed.

“ I was facing the wrong way and I heard the crowd. And that’s all I heard,” Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies said. “ But it would have been cool for him to pull that off.”

Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Woll credited Johansson for making a good, tough save on the attempt which deemed was possible by making himself big. Even though Michigan attempts don’t happen with as much frequency these days, Woll knows to be prepared for them just in case someone tries to go for it.

“ I do. You just try to get as big as you can,” Woll said on how he thinks about having to defend a Michigan. “Ideally, if you have a good eye on the puck and you see him kind of scoop it, I think that’s kind of your cue to just get big and kind of take up as much space. You can’t really react to it when it’s getting thrown into you like that.”

While Matthews may have missed out on the Michigan goal, it was still a strong night for him offensively speaking. He recorded a goal and an assist, put up five shots, registered a hit and a takeaway, and finished second among Leafs forwards in ice time with 21:56 — 17 seconds behind Mitch Marner.

Head coach Craig Berube didn’t mind seeing his captain go for it even if it was a move he could not have imagined back in his playing days.

“ I don’t know. Everybody tries it, right?” he said. “Well not everybody, but there’s a lot of guys that try it. It’s part of the game.”

If Matthews ever pulls off the Michigan at Scotiabank Arena, it will be a moment for all of Leafs Nation to remember, but the audacious attempt certainly speaks to the form and confidence the 27-year-old has right now.