Red-hot Auston Matthews gets hat trick as Leafs sink Kraken

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The Kraken sailed into Toronto for the first time not so much as a terrifying sea creature but cannon fodder for NHL teams. It was unfair to expect them to repeat the success of Vegas in reaching the Stanley Cup finals in their first year – that was very much an aberration – and they have reliably followed the route of new struggling franchises.

Seattle entered Tuesday’s encounter with the Maple Leafs with one win in its past 10 games and the third fewest (17) in the league overall. That says more about the lacklustre Canadiens and Coyotes than it does a fledgling grinding through its inaugural season with typical growing pains.

Expansion teams are usually constructed from castoff players like Frankenstein’s monster and the Kraken is no better nor worse than most. They have been submarined by a deadly combination of ineffective goaltending and an inability to score.

Which made one of two scenarios likely for the engagement at Scotiabank Arena: a blowout in favour of one of the NHL’s top-scoring teams or a trap where the playoff-bound Maple Leafs were caught looking ahead and fell flat. Remember, they lost to Arizona between defeats of Vegas and St. Louis earlier in this campaign.

At the beginning, it looked like Toronto would roll over Seattle like a speed bump. Then the home team fell into a stupor before it escaped with an ugly 6-4 victory on a power-play goal by Mitch Marner in the third period. It was a disaster averted, but it was not pretty.

Toronto entered the skirmish just 6-6-1 over its past 13 games and in its own goalkeeping conundrum.

Jack Campbell, who has gone from being an all-star to as fragile as a pane of glass, got the start in net and an opportunity to boost his flagging confidence but scuffled again.

He had allowed four or more goals in nine of his previous 15 appearances and did little to distinguish himself against a team that had been held to two or fewer in 33 contests. He stopped 26 of 30 shots on Tuesday.

He has been so shaky that his teammates lauded him for his “swagger” after a luke-warm performance.

“I gave up four, but I am not going to beat myself up over it tonight,” Campbell said.

Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer was even worse. He stopped 26 of 31 shots and is now winless in his past nine outings.

Toronto improved to 37-16-4 and remains third in the Atlantic Division, five points behind Florida and only two behind Tampa Bay. The Panthers have played two more games, however. Seattle fell to 17-37-5 and is last in the Pacific Division.

Auston Matthews scored his first of three goals on a power play less than four minutes after the puck drop to give the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead. It was the 40th time Seattle has allowed the opposition to score first.

Defenceman Carson Soucy tied it at 1-1 when he beat Campbell on only the third shot that he faced with 14:39 left in the first period. A little more than four minutes passed before John Tavares netted one to put the home team back in front 2-1.

William Nylander then fired a shot from a sharp angle that eluded Grubauer on a power-play with 14:46 left in the second and Toronto seemed to be comfortably in charge at 3-1.

As it turned out, it was anything but. Alex Wennberg and Colin Blackwell then scored 2:27 apart, the latter short-handed, and the game was knotted again headed into the second intermission.

Jaden Schwartz then gave Seattle its only lead at 4-3 with 14:03 remaining before Matthews tied it on a backhand and Marner got the winner off a beautiful pass from Michael Bunting with 10:17 to go. An empty-netter with 42 seconds left gave Matthews the hat trick and his 43rd goal of the year. Bunting got an assist as Matthews scored for the 10th time in the past eight games.

It was Marner’s 23rd goal of the campaign and along with an assist he now has 17 points over his last eight games.

“We don’t want to give up the lead like we did tonight,” Marner said. “We have been doing it too much lately. We are never down and out in a game. Things like that happen and we get over it.”

It is probably time that Bunting be given serious consideration for the Calder Trophy that is awarded to the league’s top rookie each year. At 26, he is a bit old for it but his production is undeniable. Say what you will about Trevor Zegras’s fancy highlight-reel goals and Moritz Seider’s gargantuan hits, but Bunting leads all first-year players in points (46), goals (20), plus-minus (+18) and has 27 assists.

Bunting had the game-winner in Monday’s 5-4 triumph over Columbus and entered Tuesday with a five-game point streak where he has posted 10 points (3G, 7A). He benefits from playing on one of the league’s most explosive lines with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.

“Some of the stuff [Auston] does I just kind of giggle to myself about mid-game because it’s pretty remarkable and he’s such an exceptional player,” Bunting said late Monday. “You never know what he is going to pull out. He’s a fun player to play with and he’s one of the best if not the best in the league.”

Toronto improved to 25-4-2 when it scores first but it wasn’t easy.

Seattle is not without talent. It has a top defenceman in 38-year-old Mark Giordano, although he will likely be dealt before the trade deadline on March 21. It has a proven scorer in right wing Jordan Eberle and a budding star in centre Jared McCann, who signed a five-year US$25-million contract extension earlier in the day.

The first player to officially re-sign with the organization, McCann has 33 points in 50 games this season and leads the team in goals (21), points (33), power-play goals (seven), power-play points (12) and multipoint games (eight).

Try as they might, the Kraken could not ruin a night where Wayne Simmonds of the Maple Leafs received a tribute to recognize playing in his 1,000th regular-season game on Saturday.

Hockey Hall of Fame member Willie O’Ree, former teammates Drew Doughty and Claude Giroux and current teammates John Tavares and Michael Bunting congratulated him during a video presentation during pre-game ceremonies.

He was joined on the ice by his parents Cyril and Wanda, wife Crystal and their two young daughters, with Simmonds cradling one of the little girls as the anthems were played.