'They Can't All Be On The Outside': Maple Leafs Super Line Of Matthews, Marner And Nylander Given Directive To Get To The Net Against Stars

The trio of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander have played together at even strength before, but it's almost always been in situations where the club was down and looking for a goal or in late-period/game situations.

But after Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube put them together midway through their 5-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday and saw success from his top two lines, he will try to deploy them again to start their game on Wednesday when the club visits the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.

But there is one possible blindside that comes from it.

"The issue is they got to get to the net, too," Berube said following practice on Tuesday. They can't all be on the outside wanting a puck and making plays. It's about doing things right and we'll see how it goes."

It hardly sounds like a real endorsement and more about what Berube liked from John Tavares playing with Max Pacioretty with Matthew Knies on their wing. But it's certainly worth trying. The second-line trio had an expected goals percentage of 96 percent in 6:06 of 5-on-5 ice time on Sunday. Matthews and Marner also saw improvement in their game with Nylander on the wing.

But they were down 2-0 at the time, so this will be different and it will be interesting to see how they figure out who drives into the net as the F1 and who stays back."

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdZsQ_tBktY[/embed]

"I think all three of us are pretty familiar with each other, so just working hard, making sure that we got a guy in front of the net that we're supporting all over the ice and obviously taking care of D-Zone as well, so it's pretty simple, I think," Matthews reasoned.

It's one thing to try this against a struggling Sabres team but the Dallas Stars have consistently been one of the strongest and deepest teams in the Western Conference with a 19-11-0 record. And if it doesn't work, a simple mid-game adjustment is simple enough.

Another reason why the change is worth trying is due to how the offense seemed to come alive on Sunday as a whole, It was the first time since Nov. 30 that Toronto scored four or more even-strength goals. And given the club will be without top-performing goaltender Anthony Stolarz for approximately four-to-six weeks to remove a fragment in his knee that was causing him discomfort, now is the time for the near-healthy offense to return to the form that saw them shoot the lights out on the rest of the NHL for years before a more defensive-sound Berube squad emerged this season.

Matthews is having a down year by his standards. The star has had a season that included a nine-game absence due to an upper-body injury. He has 10 games and 11 assists in 22 games this season. The Stars may be the right opponent for the Arizona native to break through. He's got a 10-game point streak dating back to his rookie season in the NHL (10 goals and five assists) against Dallas. In that span, he set the Leafs single-season goals record by scoring his 55th to pass previous record holder Rick Vaive on Apr. 7, 20220. 

Mitch Marner leads the club with 41 points in 31 games. William Nylander leads the Leafs with 18 goals this season.