Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe was both proud and furious after Auston Matthews’ first career NHL fight on Saturday in Toronto’s 4-3 overtime win over the Lightning.
With 14:56 left in the third period and the Lightning up 3-2 in Game 3 of the first-round playoff series, the referees were trying to keep players apart after Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov jumped on Toronto’s Morgan Rielly in retaliation for hitting Brayden Point hard into the boards.
Lightning captain Steven Stamkos skated over to Matthews while talking to one of the referees and grabbed the American superstar, who was picking sticks up off the ice.
Stamkos, who already had his left glove off, started jabbing Matthews with that exposed left hand before Matthews had enough and gave Stamkos what he wanted, fighting back as Stamkos wrestled Matthews down to the ice.
A referee then jumped on top of Matthews to try to break the two players apart while Stamkos got in a couple of extra shots with his right hand.
According to Sportsnet, the fight was the first ever between players who have each had a 60-goal season in their career.
“It’s a classic example of a veteran, championship team like Tampa Bay manipulating the officials and taking advantage of a situation, right?” Keefe said. “They know we’re basically already going on the power play because of the [Nikita] Kucherov situation, so it’s a free for all. They can do whatever they want, and they just know the way games get called, they’re not gonna get another penalty.
“You watch that sequence back, to say we shouldn’t be on a 5-on-3 is, I mean, the official is literally holding Steven Stamkos with one arm and his other hand with no glove on is punching Auston Matthews. Not the linesman, the referee who calls the penalties was holding Stamkos while this was happening.”
Keefe, who said he loved how Matthews “stood up for himself,” then pointedly called it a “brilliant” play by the Lightning.
Rielly ended up not getting assessed a penalty for boarding after a review as Point left the ice in pain.
Seven penalties were assessed and the Maple Leafs had a power play, but they were then without Matthews, who was sent to the penalty box for a fighting major.
Toronto couldn’t convert on the man-advantage, but Ryan O’Reilly tied the game with one minute left in regulation before Morgan Rielly scored with 45 seconds left in overtime to give the Maple Leafs a 2-1 series lead.
Stamkos said he was reacting to Rielly’s hit on Point.
“You see one of the best players in the world go headfirst into the boards. There’s gotta be a response,” Stamkos told reporters. “I’d expect the same thing from their group if Mitch Marner or Matthews was in that same position. It’s playoff hockey. That’s just the way it is.”
Matthews, 25, scored his first goal of the series in the first period to put Toronto up 2-1.
He followed up his 60-goal, 106-point 2021-22 season with 40 goals and 45 assists this season.
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