The Toronto Maple Leafs center won the Hart Trophy, was voted the NHL Most Valuable Player by the Professional Hockey Writers Association, and the Ted Lindsay Award was voted the Most Outstanding Player in the League as voted by the NHL Players’ Association. But when he returned to the Amalie Arena to speak to the media, Matthews was thinking about what could be for the Maple Leafs this season as well as his individual accomplishments. “I always try to set goals and I just try to be the best I can be,” Matthews said. “But I think I would be lying if I said there was not a little bit, I guess I would still like you to be playing, obviously, right now. Especially to be back here.” The last time Matthews was in the building, the Maple Leafs had their chance for their first win in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2004, but lost 4-3 in overtime to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 6th game of the First Round of the East. . The Lightning won 2-1 in Game 7 in Toronto to eliminate the Maple Leafs and continue their bid to win the Stanley Cup for the third consecutive season. Tampa Bay follows Colorado avalanche 2-1 in the Stanley Cup final and heads to Game 4 of the best-of-7 series here Wednesday (8pm ET; ABC, ESPN +, CBC, SN, TVAS) . “Of course I was watching,” Matthews said. “It’s hard to say. I’ve been watching for so long. Six, seven years now I’ve been watching this time of year. So I think everyone knows, understands and realizes how difficult it is. You need a lot of things to do your way and some things. Video: Auston Matthews wins the Hart Trophy for NHL MVP “We played a very good team in Tampa and there is a reason they are coming back here in the Stanley Cup final for the third year in a row. So I think these are all simple things we can, I guess, learn from.” Matthews is the third Maple Leafs player to win the Hart Trophy, along with Ted Kennedy (1955) and Babe Pratt (1944), and the first to win the Ted Lindsay Award. The native of San Ramon, California is the second player born in the United States to beat Hart and Ted Lindsay, after Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2016. Matthews’s other finalists were Edmonton Oilers’s center, Conor McDavid and the New York Rangers goalkeeper, Igor Sesterkin for Hart, and McDavid and Nashman L’s Nashville L’s defender. “It’s nice. I can’t lie,” Matthews said. “I feel very good. It’s special to have my family here with me. Lots of great players in this room, lots of kids who really deserve it. Definitely very special.” Video: Auston Matthews wins Ted Lindsay Award Matthews set a record at the Maple Leafs with 60 goals, breaking the limit set by Rick Vaive (54) in 1981-82 and winning the Rocket Richard Trophy for the second consecutive season as the NHL leader. The first player to score so many in the season since Steven Stamkos scored 60 for Lightning in 2011-12, Matthews also set the record for most goals scored by a United States-born player in a single season. Matthews tied Stamkos for sixth place in the NHL with 106 points (46 assists) in 73 games to help Toronto (54-21-7) finish with the most wins and points (115) in its history and qualify. in the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. But Matthews hopes to add success to the playoffs to his Maple Leafs resume next season. “I think it’s a great honor to wear blue and white and represent the city of Toronto and wear the Maple Leaf every night,” he said. “Children who have come before us and just the story that started in this organization means a lot. So whenever your name is mentioned in the history of an organization like this, it is definitely very special and something I do not accept is granted.” .
