Cowan finished the game with an assist and a career-high in ice time during Toronto's loss to Columbus.
Easton Cowan's confidence is growing with every game he gets into.
The 20-year-old appeared in his 13th game of the season with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night in an overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Entering the matchup, he was on a line with Scott Laughton and Steven Lorentz, though midway through the game, that changed.
After stacking up strong shifts with the third line in the first half against Columbus, Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube promoted Cowan to the top line with William Nylander and John Tavares.
And it worked out quite well.
Cowan's "dog-on-the-bone" mentality to fetch loose pucks opened up more space and time for Tavares and Nylander. And in the third period, when Tavares fed Cowan the puck at the Columbus blue line, the young forward knew he had to get it back to the veteran.
Cowan contorted his body and flicked the puck under the stick of Damon Severson, right to Tavares, and he buried it for his 12th goal of the season.
"He's taken some good steps from day one," Berube said post-game. "Like he just works and skates and sees the ice extremely well. He's being a lot more heavier on pucks and making good decisions with the puck."
It was Cowan's fourth assist and fifth point this year.
"You can just see not just his ability to read the game and make little plays, just like you did on my goal," said Tavares. "He just lays it in there, not too quick, just in the right spot with the right pace on it and just an easy play for me to put in."
Cowan remained with Tavares and Nylander for the rest of regulation and helped create a few more scoring opportunities. Berube even put him out early in overtime with Scott Laughton and Morgan Rielly, with Cowan almost ending the game with a goal.
"He just seems to be strong on the puck, absorbing contact, things like that. You saw it throughout the game. I thought it was evident in overtime as well," Tavares added. "He's playing really well, and credit to him the way he's just kind of not tried to do too much, focus too much on things offensively. Just be consistent with his game in all areas."
Ultimately, Adam Fantilli scored the overtime-winner a few shifts later. Despite yet another loss (their sixth in the last seven games), the Maple Leafs — and Cowan specifically — should be fairly happy with the game that was played.
Cowan was positive following it, but admitted he should've buried at least one of his four chances.
"It's good I'm getting out there, but I got to capitalize," he said. "I got to bury one of them since I'm out there a lot. So, yeah, I take responsibility, and I've got to bury one, and I've just got to keep going."
Is he getting frustrated that he's not converting on his opportunities?
"I wouldn't say frustrated, no," Cowan said, "but if I bury one of them, we could have won the game. So that's the unfortunate part, but I've just got to stay positive."
The biggest takeaway for Cowan: he finished with 20:06 of time-on-ice, well above his last career-high of 17:23 against Columbus on Oct. 29. Eventually, with those kinds of minutes, paired with the opportunities he's getting, Cowan will eventually have one make its way into the back of the net.
"It's been great the last few games watching him," said Joseph Woll, who stopped 27 of 30 shots. "Even over the last couple of games, we've seen him grow a lot and getting more confidence out there. He's going to be a special player, I think, for a while."
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