Nathan MacKinnon matchup is just what Auston Matthews needs

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The puck was on his stick. And then it wasn’t.

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Just like that.

Looking like the Auston Matthews of old. Scoring like no one else can score. Shooting like no one else shoots.

This was Monday night at the Scotiabank Arena and, for one night anyhow, this was Matthews looking like the great Matthews, shooting like Matthews, scoring like Matthews.

The Matthews we haven’t seen a lot of or enough of in this struggle of a season for him.

The brilliance came against the Calgary Flames and against a roster of mostly middle-of-the-road players that Matthews is supposed to dominate. It came for one night with all kinds of pressure on a struggling Maple Leafs team and a captain searching to rediscover what it is that makes him so different and special.

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Matthews can spoil us, big picture. We have seen him do what no Maple Leaf has ever done. We have seen him score goals the way no Toronto player has ever scored.

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At times, we have almost taken it for granted, expecting greatness. There was a 60-goal season and a 69-goal season while, in between all of that, Matthews led the NHL in scoring at even strength.

The big Leafs scorers of other eras, of our lifetime, they scored 40 goals, 50 goals. Scoring 60 or almost scoring 70, those are numbers from the museum of the hard-to-believe. Except they are real and they are his.

And then this season started, with a new contract paying him more than anyone in the NHL, with a new C on his jersey, with a new coach and a different style of play, with mystery injury or injuries bothering him. For most of this season, we’ve seen a sound, smart, defensive Auston Matthews and — considering his lofty standards — a limited offensive player.

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Until the Calgary game Monday night, when he burst onto ice and into the game almost immediately. It was as though he announced his entry back into the bigtime.

For all the regular consternation there is daily over the state of the Leafs throughout any 82-game season, the Big Three — Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander — forever have the ability to change any game.

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Some nights one of them has it. Some nights two of them are doing it. Some discouraging nights, none. When all three are making plays, the way they were Monday night, Leafs are a dangerous team. And they become even more dangerous when Max Domi is making saucer passes to Nick Robertson for goals and a third line with Bobby McMann is contributing to an offence that has searched all season to find itself.

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The answer doesn’t come from the magic of Craig Berube’s line changes. The magic comes from the talents that few players or teams can match — from Matthews, Marner and Nylander. The big regular-season three. The big playoff three we’ve been waiting on for just about a decade.

On Wednesday night, Matthews and friends will not be playing against the Flames. They will be playing against possible Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon, who won the MVP last year. And possible Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar, who has won it before. That’s two players, game by game and season by season, who are better than anyone the Leafs can match with.

Monday night was about the Leafs finding themselves and, in many ways, about Matthews finding the spark that has seemed missing. That counts as one night.

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Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche, that’s an entirely different level. This is the kind of matchup Matthews desperately needs: Head-to-head with the best in the game. He takes those challenges personally. He doesn’t always win them.

Matthews will get no Hart Trophy votes in his first year as Maple Leafs captain. MacKinnon could become the first player since 2009 to win the Hart in consecutive seasons. Not surprisingly, this is the year of Alexander Ovechkin and Ovie was the most recent NHL player to win the Hart in back-to-back seasons.

This year, MacKinnon is in a tight three-way race for the Hart, alongside Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers and goaltender Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets.

You can make a case for all three winning. MacKinnon and Draisaitl, different as their games may be, are scoring at almost precisely the same pace over the course of the season. Draisaitl the goal scorer, MacKinnon, the shot-from-a-cannon playmaker.

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The Avalanche and Oilers have almost the same record. Deciding on Draisaitl over MacKinnon or MacKinnon over Draisaitl is not unlike picking toppings for a pizza. I may want pepperoni and you may want peppers and onions: It doesn’t make either of us right, it’s personal preference.

There’s still 15 games to figure MacKinnon or Draisaitl or Hellebuyck. The race will be right to the wire.

In his 60-goal season, Matthews won the Hart. How tough is it to win the MVP? In his 69-goal season, last year, he finished fourth in the voting behind MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov of Tampa and Connor McDavid of Edmonton.

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Matthews has finished first, second and fourth for the Hart Trophy in the past five seasons. MacKinnon has finished first, second twice, third and fifth in voting in his spectacular career. That’s a Hall of Fame resume already and he doesn’t turn 30 until September.

Matthews views himself as one of the greats of the game. Right there alongside McDavid and MacKinnon and Draisaitl. You don’t get enough of these great matchups throughout the season. That’s why Wednesday night matters so much for the Leafs and for Matthews.

This is personal. This is head to head.

One night can’t define a season for Matthews, but it can be a starting point for what comes next.

ssimmons@postmedia.com

twitter.com/simmonssteve

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