It’s the first much-anticipated matchup between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights this season on Thursday night. But […]
It’s the first much-anticipated matchup between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights this season on Thursday night. But while so many eyes will be on how ex-Leaf Mitch Marner performs against his former mates, just as many will be focused on how Toronto’s Auston Matthews fares in this one.
Matthews & Marner spent most of the previous nine years as linemates and teammates. But they were not only the one-two punch that made the Maple Leafs go, they also made each other go.
BETWEEN THE LEGS REVERSE PASS FROM MARNER AND THE NASTY TOE DRAG FINISH FROM MATTHEWS 🤢 pic.twitter.com/j7w1mvlBab
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) December 5, 2024
Then Marner made the life-altering decision to bolt his hometown in free agency, taking his talents to the Vegas Strip this past summer.
Neither player, however, had the first half of the 2025-26 season that they would have hoped.
Matthews & Marner have mixed results this season without each other
Marner has done okay in the first year of his eight-year, $12 million AAV deal in Vegas. 47 points in 45 games (1.04 points-per-game) with a +8 plus/minus rating. But those numbers aren’t quite up to the standard that he had set with the Leafs (1.13 pts-per-game, +19 rating per 82 games). He’s also been all over the map with the Golden Knights in where he’s played in the lineup… right wing, left wing, even center. First line, second line, third line.
For Matthews, we all know the trials and tribulations he’s gone through this season. The Leafs captain seemed to be a shell of himself through the first half of the year. Just 14 goals and 23 points through his first 31 games (he missed a handful of games in November). There were some whispers about whether he just wasn’t the same without Marner.
But over his last nine games (which roughly corresponds with the team’s resurgence), he seems to be back to the Hart Trophy version of himself. Eight goals and 14 points in those nine contests. The shot is back, and so is the drive and his impact on a game.
Matthews vs. Marner: Who misses who?
Now, it’s fair to wonder which one of Matthews or Marner misses the other more. Seeing them compete against each other for the first time (aside from the 4 Nations) will be an intriguing exercise. It should provoke and motivate both of them to really bring it.
For all the accolades Matthews received for breaking Mats Sundin’s all-time Maple Leafs’ goal-scoring record earlier this month, outperforming and outscoring Marner and leading the Leafs to victory over the Golden Knights would be more important to the fanbase at this point.
Between this game at T-Mobile Arena Thursday night, and the rematch next week at Scotiabank Arena, we just might find who’s missing who.
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Category: General Sports
