Boom.
The sky just fell on the heads of the Toronto Maple Leafs. A huge part of their identity and their offensive production just fell in battle. To be more specific, the Leafs's superstar, Auston Matthews just got injured. He's suffering of a knee sprain and will be missing at least three weeks of action. Rumor has; he would have been injured during the overtime victory against the Rangers by a score of 3 to 2, last Wednesday.
What is even more frustrating is that, since last season in which Matthews scored 60 goals while also getting 46 assists for an impressive amount of 106 points, the athlete has never slow down.
This present season again, it was reasonable for him to expect another great season just as his last one.
The American forward who twice won the Maurice Richard trophy accumulated, before getting injured, an impressive total of 25 goals and 53 points in just 47 games, including 7 goals in his last 7 meetings.
He was burning hot. I bet he was surrounded by smoke while he was walking outside in the blistering cold.
Before he got hurt, he had just known a 10 games streak with at least one point per game. During that streak, he has scored eight goals and provided five assists for a total of 13 points.
This guy was on a mission.
Regardless of the Maple Leafs who are not only trying to secure their place in the playoffs but are aiming to start these playoffs at home, the one who has scored four goals in his first game in the NHL will be also missing the NHL All-star game who be held on February 4th in Sunrise, the home of the Florida Panthers. Ironically, Matthews will be replaced by a Panthers's player, the captain of the team, Aleksander Barkov who has added 43 points in 40 games to his remarkable statistics during this present season.
Although the situation may seem precarious for the team based in Ontario, captain John Tavares gave a positive and unifying speech where he indicated that the other players will have to raise their game a notch and that the whole team will have to show its depth in order to compensate for this significant loss.
Even if what's happening now might look terrible, the number 34 is not the first player to get injured. Furthermore, I sincerely expect him to come back hungry as never before. In fact, just in order to give you another point of view, let me remind you the incredible story of Mario "The Magnificent" Lemieux. In 1990, Lemieux has gone through a back surgery. Following the surgery, he has missed the 50 first games of the 1991-1992 season. When he came back, the Penguins have won two Stanley cups in a row. In 1993, he had to fight a vicious cancer. Following the treatments, he will find a way to win the scoring championship and his team, upon his return, will win 17 consecutive games. . After this another hard time, Lemieux had to miss all the 1994-1995 season to take care of his struggling health. When he came back, he finished the 1995-1996 season with 161 points, along with his spectacular teammate, Jaromir Jagr.
After remembering those unbelievable memories of one of the best player of all time, who knows what Matthews will be capable of when he returns? No one knows...
But I can't wait to find out!
- David Leboeuf
Sevigny has succeeded in representing on his painting, all the passion and desire to win that Matthews possesses. Do you want to have the original in your living room, your office or your mancave? Click on the image for more details
Also 3 print sizes are available. Hurry, they are limited to only 25 copies
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