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“It weighs on everyone”: Leafs HC Craig Berube breaks silence on Auston Matthews’ goal-scoring drought post 4 Nations

Modified Mar 15, 2025 17:47 GMT

Auston Matthews is going through a dry spell. After a magical 69-goal season in 2023-24, Matthews further cemented his place as the best goal scorer in the NHL. However, he has not been able to live up to his name so far in 2024-25.

The star center has registered 56 points (23 goals, 33 assists) in 50 games played on the campaign. His overall numbers are still strong, but the goal scoring has taken a dip. His 0.46 goals-per-game is the lowest of his nine-year career and would put him on a full-season pace for 38 goals.

He's particularly struggled to find the back of the net of late, with just three goals in his last 16 games, one of those being an empty-netter.

Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube was asked about his captain's lack of goal scoring in recent weeks during his game day media availability. On Saturday, Leafslatest shared his response on X (formerly Twitter).

"It weighs on everybody," Berube said. "A player that, he wants to help the team by putting the puck in the net. Listen, I said it before, he’s getting the opportunities. That hasn’t really changed from last year.

It’s just not going in as much this year. But his overall game—for me, I go off last game—he did a great job defensively going up against (Aleksander) Barkov, who’s one of the best in the league. He’s doing a lot of good things. We just got to stick with it. He’s getting the chances. He’s got to keep shooting, and we need him to play 200 feet."

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Matthews has missed 15 games throughout the season due to a nagging upper body injury, which could still be affecting his play.

Auston Matthews will have a different looking line against the Ottawa Senators

Auston Matthews will not have Mitch Marner on his right-wing on Saturday night.

Coach Craig Berube made some changes to the Maple Leafs' forward core at Saturday's morning skate. Although Matthews will remain with Matthew Knies on the left, he will now have Max Domi on his right side. Domi laid a massive hit, won a fight and scored a goal on Thursday night against Florida, earning himself a well-deserved bump up the lineup.

Domi has played with Matthews in the past, and the two have shown some chemistry. The Leafs hope that can spark the team to snap out of its current funk.

Matthews and the Maple Leafs will take on the rival Ottawa Senators on Saturday. The puck drops at 7 p.m. EST at Scotiabank Arena.

About the author

Jackson Weber is an NHL journalist at Sportskeeda with a Bcomm degree in Business and Sport Management from the University of Guelph.

Jackson has grown up as a lifelong Pittsburgh Penguins fan. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are his all-time favorite players. Watching the Penguins win the Stanley Cup three times is an experience that Jackson will never forget. Years later, you realize how rare it is to see your favorite team win even once, so three championships were just incredible.

When not watching, playing, or writing about sports, Jackson loves to cook and is passionate about health and nutrition.

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