Leafs Auston Matthews could receive discipline following vicious cross check on Blackhawks Connor Murphy
The Toronto Maple Leafs Captain Auston Matthews is easy to goad into committing a penalty. All you have to do is check Matthews against the boards for him to lash out like a petulant child.
Because that's what he did tonight against Connor Murphy at 17:53 into the 2nd period.
Keep in mind this isn't the only penalty that the Maple Leafs have taken the liberty of committing against Murphy.
Tonight at 11:27 in the 1st period, Murphy was hooked by former Maple Leafs Captain John Tavares.
The play of the Maple Leafs tonight is right out of the style of their enemy, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov who is known to be dirty.
The Maple Leafs have been getting outplayed by the Blackhawks in the 2nd period, but have been goalied by Anthony Stolarz despite their best efforts by forwards like Ilya Mikheyev, Craig Smith, and Connor Bedard.
Toronto leads the game, as Auston Matthews and John Tavares have contributed goals tonight.
While former Blackhawks winger Alex Nylander has been making bagels tonight, a bad look for someone who was considered a top talent in Columbus last season.
Despite that, the two-goal lead isn't good enough for Toronto, as Matthews and John Tavares bust out their inner goon.
Matthews has 3 points(1 G, 2 A) in the last two games, and earned 2 PIMs tonight against the Blackhawks.
The question now is, why hasn't Nick Foligno stepped in to enforce the code on the ice? Murphy isn't a stranger to playing like a bruiser, but it's not often we see a fight from him.
Maybe Captain Foligno can light a spark under the Blackhawks fire, and fight back against Papi and his minions.
Connor Bedard report
As of the time of this writing, Bedard has played 14:15 TOI and 16 shifts. He has yet to take a shot on goal tonight, and has a face-off percentage of 33.3.
