Are the Toronto Maple Leafs better without Auston Matthews? Looking at their record in playoffs in his absence

By Ryan Gagne

Modified May 01, 2024 16:05 GMT

The Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews is a Hart Trophy winner and the only player in the salary cap era to score 69 goals in the regular season. The team has yet to find success in the Stanley Cup playoffs and is on the verge of elimination in their opening-round series against the Boston Bruins.

Down 3-1 in the series, the Maple Leafs escaped TD Garden on Tuesday night with an impressive 2-1 overtime victory without Matthews in the lineup.

Although there is much speculation about what has kept him out of the lineup since the second period in Game 4, the saga will continue for another contest, as the two teams meet again in Game 6 on Thursday night.

However, the question everyone will discuss in the next 36 hours is: Could the Maple Leafs be better without Matthews in the lineup? Let's examine the numbers and see what they say.

Are the Toronto Maple Leafs better without Auston Matthews?

According to Sportsnet statistics, the Maple Leafs are 35-19-2 without Matthews in their lineup. After Game 5, those numbers improved to 36-19-2, which equals a .631 win percentage.

Interestingly, Tuesday night's contest was the first Stanley Cup playoff game that Matthews has missed in his NHL career, which started in 2016-17. Before Game 5, the Maple Leafs were 22-32, including the ongoing series' first four games with the Bruins.

In his absence, Toronto's top line was Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi and Mitch Marner. As the next-best player in the lineup without Matthews, Marner played 21:45 minutes, his third-highest total of the series, while Bertuzzi played just 17:15, his lowest total since Game 1 (15:27).

Meanwhile, Domi played 18:54, the third-highest total of his career and the most he's skated in the series thus far. Captain John Tavares logged 22:34, which is over three minutes more than any other game he's played in the playoffs this season, picking up some of the time Matthews usually skates.

William Nylander stayed consistent with 22 minutes, the exact total he had in Game 4, his first appearance in the series. Finally, the overtime hero, Matthew Knies, skated 17:03, the second most of his Stanley Cup playoff career, giving him over four minutes of extra time compared to his totals from Games 1 through 4.

Without Matthews skating over 23 minutes a night, head coach Sheldon Keefe had to reshuffle the deck and dish out extra minutes to other top-six forwards, giving opportunities to new players.

Even though it is only one game, and the Maple Leafs only fought off elimination for another day, there will be many intriguing storylines to cover leading up to Game 6 on Thursday.

Of course, much discussion will focus on the Bruins' inability to close out the series, while others continue to discuss the historical narrative between the two franchises.

However, one of the most significant talking points will be about whether Matthews is good to go in Game 6 and, if so, how his presence will disrupt what Toronto accomplished in Game 5.