Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews |

05/01/2025 04:12 PM -

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ power play actually can produce at a key moment.

Auston Matthews‘ game-opening goal with the man advantage Thursday against the Ottawa Senators ended a painful drought for Toronto.

It was Toronto’s first power-play goal in 31 opportunities in a potential closeout game.

As Leafs Nation knows all too well, Toronto entered Thursday 1-13 in potential closeout games since 2018.

Toronto’s last power-play goal in a closeout game the Leafs won came all the way back in 2002 when Alex Mogilny scored against the same Senators in Game 7 of the second round.

Matthew Knies provided a nice screen on Matthews’ shot from the point, which beat Senators goalie Linus Ullmark with 1:10 left in the first period.

Senators captain Brady Tkachuk was in the box for interference.