A nice, round number. But something that was so hard to achieve for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Auston Matthews made his 50th appearance in just his 62nd game of the season – the fastest Leaf to reach the milestone and just fourth in franchise history. So what if the memorial elf slipped into an empty net? As the hats rained down on the ice for a goal without a hat-trick, it was an exclamation point on an electric night. You’ve heard of a statement game. How about a week of declaration? The Matthews and Maple Leafs beat the No. 1 seed in the Eastern District, Florida Panthers 5-2 on Sunday, then fell to Boston on Tuesday and chased the goalkeeper 6-2. And for Thursday’s encore, they avenged one of the bitterest defeats of the season (the December gong show in Manitoba) with a 7-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets – a team that desperately wants to stay in the wild. While the visitors had an excuse to start sluggish, checking into their hotel rooms in Toronto late after Wednesday’s victory in Buffalo, it was the Jets who jumped out of the gates, leading 2-0 with the strength of the goals of the top Blake Wheeler and Paul Stastny. But Mark Giordano’s first for the city gave him some life at the Scotiabank Arena late in the first period, which was transferred to a dominant second frame. William Nylander scored a pair of power-play goals, setting a new career record in points (63). The tough John Tavares climbed on the board with a brave effort into the net and Ilya Mikheyev shook Eric Comrie. With the home crowd erupting from time to time in “We! I want! Fifty! “Chants, Matthews quietly set a new career record in assists (37). And while Nikolaj Ehlers rebuffed for the Jets, Winnipeg simply missed out on a club that played some of the best hockey of the season – injuries and golf worries are cursed. Chasing a red light all night, Matthews finally won the cherry over a delicious victory. “Shooters shoot,” Matthews had said before the game. However, few of them shoot with Matthews success. The Leafs will try to extend their winning streak to four games on Saturday in Philadelphia. Fox’s Fast 5 • Blake Wheeler did this to Mark Giordano, previously perfect as Maple Leaf: • I like to see John Tavares’ attention to detail. As soon as he celebrated Giordano’s first goal as a Maple Leaf, he noted it to the referee so that he could regain the milestone for his teammate. Betcha $ 36 Jack Campbell kicks off Saturday in Philadelphia. • A good first season for older kids, with all three scorers – Wheeler, Giordano and Paul Stastny – members of the ever-shrinking 35 and Older Club of the NHL. Giordano became the oldest defender to score for the Leafs in 52 years. (A 40-year-old Tim Horton scored his last in 1970… and never did anything remarkable after that.) • Eighteen goals for Stastny, 36, mark the most in a season for him since 2015-16.
