Led by their Young Guns, the Toronto Maple Leafs got their 2018/19 NHL season off to a flying start by going 5-1 in their first six games including winning all four contests on a recent road trip. To keep things in perspective though, the Leafs’ first five contests came against non-playoff teams from last season. However, they did manage to double the reigning Stanley Cup champions the Washington Capitals 4-2 in Washington.
A quick look at the NHL scoring parade on October 15th saw four Leafs in the top six. Centre Auston Matthews was leading the way with 10 goals and four assists in six games while defenceman Morgan Rielly was right behind him at three goals and 10 assists. Centre John Tavares was fifth in the league with six goals and four assists and winger Mitch Marner had three goals and seven helpers. All of this has been achieved while another Maple Leafs’ young sharpshooter William Nylander remains in Sweden during a contract dispute and Nazem Kadri and Patrick Marleau have yet to score a goal.
At 21 years old, Matthews’ quick start saw him become the youngest player in league history to score at least two points per game in his club’s first five games to start a season. He’s just the 12th player ever to achieve the feat with Leafs’ teammate Patrick Marleau being the last to accomplish it in 2012/13 when he was with the San Jose Sharks. The youngest player before Matthews was a 22-year-old Wayne Gretzky when he scored six goals and 10 assists in five games back in 1983/84. Matthews has recorded five two-point games and one four-point encounter in his first six contests of the campaign.
He is also just the second player in the past 30 years and the fifth in the modern era to reach double digits in goals in his team’s first six games as Mario Lemieux had 11 for Pittsburgh in 1988/89. Bobby Hull scored 11 goals in his first half dozen games in 1965/66 while Dino Ciccarelli scored 10 in 1986/87 and Mike Bossy also netted 10 in 1984/85. In addition, Matthews became the third Maple Leaf in team history to score 10 times in the first six games with Babe Dye last achieving the feat in 1922/23.
As for Rielly, the last NHL defenceman to get off to such a quick start was Bobby Orr back in 1973/74 when he notched 11 points in his first five games while Rielly posted 12 in the Leafs first five this year. In fact, just one defenceman has gotten off to a better start than the 24-year-old Rielly and that came over 100 years ago when Harry Cameron scored 15 points in his first five outings with the old Toronto Arenas in 1917/18. Perhaps Rielly’s stats have surprised some fans, but he was one of the league’s top scoring blue liners last season with 52 points.
It may not be surprising that Tavares has already racked up up 10 points in six games since the 28-year-old veteran was the New York Islanders’ best player for the best part of a decade before signing in Toronto as a free agent this summer. However, some skeptics weren’t sure how long it would take him to fit with and adapt to the the Leafs’ system. The 21-year-old Marner has been keeping pace with his line mate Tavares and the crafty right-winger has now scored 70 points in his last 53 NHL games including the playoffs. Not bad for a player who was banished to the fourth line for a while last season.
As a team, the Leafs were leading the NHL in points with 10 as of October 15th and in goals with 29 after six starts. However, they had also allowed 22 against, which was the second most in the league behind the Detroit Red Wings’ 23. It’s possible, but highly unlikely that Matthews, Rielly, Tavares and Marner remain on their torrid pace for the remainder of the season, but it’s also unlikely that Kadri and Marleau don’t start scoring soon. The Leafs have enjoyed fine regular seasons in the past couple of years, but have been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round each time. So unless they can replicate the scoring in the postseason, it may not mean much in the long run.
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