He was a real jerk. Down 3-1, Boston entered Game 5 of the Toronto series tepid and decidedly came up short in the first half. Then he leveled his stride, but the exciting duel had to be decided by overtime. Matthew Knies scored the winning goal in it.
John Tavares drove the puck and the assertive Knies was in the right place at the right time. Two and a half minutes were enough and Toronto could celebrate. It was a huge relief.
“For a moment it will go black before your eyes. Honestly, I was the happiest when looking at the faces of my teammates,” said the 21-year-old Knies, who is in her first season in Toronto.
It was also relieved for John Tavares, who is under a lot of pressure as one of the team’s leaders. “I just threw the puck in the hope that something would land. Great job Knies. He read it well and scored the winning goal,” commented the Maple Leafs captain.
Knies made his debut last year, but he has been a really solid part of Toronto since this season. In 80 games of the regular season, he collected a solid 35 points (15+20). He was drafted in the second round in 2021.
He went through the USHL or the NCAA college system on his way to the NHL. But his first coach was his father, who actively played hockey. Both Miroslav and Michaela’s parents are Slovaks who immigrated to America. Matthew was already born in Phoenix. He regularly returns to Slovakia during the holidays; if time permits, he spends several weeks a year here. He says he speaks Slovak very well.
In November, his closest relatives were not missing in Sweden, where Toronto presented itself as part of the Global Series in Stockholm. “My family is from Bratislava. I try to come to see them every summer, even though it is quite difficult due to the hockey program,” he told reporters at the time.
The game-winning goal was Knies’ second of the series, and believe it or not, those two goals make him the Leafs’ leading scorer in the playoffs so far. No one else scored more than one goal.
At the same time, Knies contributes to the team on several fronts. He starts in a weakened state, where he eliminates, for example, the game of David Pastrňák. In the series, he converted the moment when, with a very smart defensive play, he blocked a pass to the elite Bruins sniper, who was already advancing in a classic position on the left circle. Sometimes Matthew Knies plays a power play.
Boston knows that a 3-1 lead doesn’t guarantee anything. Last year, he lost this lead with Florida. Toronto is alive thanks to Knies. The series will return to Canada for game six.
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