It was two minutes before Auston Matthews emerged unscathed and turned in one of his best performances of the regular season. It was a three-point night for the Toronto Maple Leafs’ captain, and it looked like he had dragged his team back into a game they had no business competing in. Matthews, Marner and Matthew Knies were the Maple Leafs’ only lineup Chris Tanev’s shot-blocking heroics and Anthony Stolarz’s composed demeanor certainly deserve praise. But all this is in vain.

Matthews and Maple Leaves emphasized an answer He had his worst two-game stretch of the year behind him, and while the team was trailing, unlucky and overworked throughout the night, Toronto’s captain worked tirelessly and scored with one minute and 17 seconds left in regulation to tie the contest. Saturday’s game was a reaction game for both Matthews and his counterpart Brad Marchand, who made costly mistakes that drew national attention after the respective head coaches took them to task.

And in the end, it was Marchand’s superior attention to detail that won out over Matthews. He made the game-defining mistake in the overtime period, when Matthews narrowly missed the goal in a game that could have been won. Matthews carelessly threw the puck onto the ice in his own defensive zone, apparently expecting a teammate to be there. David Pastrnak kept the ball and shot to Marchand, who cleared the goal unchallenged and scored the winner in overtime. We’ve seen this scenario play out, but after Matthews took responsibility for Thursday’s performance, he was the last player you’d expect to commit an unforced turnover in overtime.