Knies' highlight reel goal in the second period was his seventh goal of the year, and second in four games.
Matthew Knies' strength was on full display in the Toronto Maple Leafs' 5-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night.
Nearly five minutes into the middle period, the Maple Leafs' top line of Knies, Auston Matthews, and Max Domi — along with Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Morgan Rielly — were hemmed in their own zone.
As the puck deflected off Rielly's skate and slid to Toronto's blue line, Knies got a stick on it and poked it past Hurricanes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere. Once that occurred, the 23-year-old was off to the races.
Knies fell to the ice after getting shoved by Gostisbehere, but quickly got back up before fighting off Sebastian Aho. After knocking the Hurricanes forward to the ice with ease, Knies slotted a backhand behind Frederik Andersen for his seventh goal of the season.
"He was strong and powerful," said Scott Laughton after Toronto's third win in four games. "He almost scored an unbelievable goal last game like that and gets one there. He's been big for us, and like I said, so strong and powerful on the puck, it's hard to get him off it."
"Doesn't matter how many guys are draped all over him," Matthews added. "He's such a big body, so strong, and he just kind of shrugs it off. And it's very impressive. He's a handful out there."
Knies, though, wasn't finished putting his name on the scoresheet.
Nearly six minutes after his goal, the forward made a strong defensive play, breaking up a pass in Toronto's zone after a failed clearing attempt. After Knies regained control of the puck, he passed it to Matthews, who eventually scored his 11th of the year off a give-and-go with Domi.
And if you watched closely, you would've seen Knies follow his two teammates up the ice and shield defenseman Alexander Nikishin from breaking up the scoring opportunity.
"Those are two good players on a 2-on-1. It's bound to go in," Knies said. "So, yeah, just try to give (Matthews) room, and he did what I thought he did."
It was Knies' second point, and the trio of him, Matthews, and Domi combined for five points on the evening. And through 24 games this season, Knies has seven goals and 28 points, putting him third on the Maple Leafs in scoring.
"He's been really good this whole trip for me," said Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube. "I thought that line was really good tonight. They carried it, in my opinion. I thought they did a great job, and not just on the score sheet, all around... It was a good team win."
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All things considered, this was a nice way for the Maple Leafs to cap off what was a much-needed road trip.
They picked up four wins in five games and will return home sitting two points out of a playoff spot. If Toronto can beat the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, they'll be tied for third in the Atlantic Division.
"We needed this. We needed that energy, and we're just going to try to bring that home," said Knies. "We've had a tendency to be flat at home, but I think we're going to come Saturday and give some payback to these guys in Montreal."
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