Steven Stamkos finally breaks his silence and explains why he jumped Auston Matthews in Game 3
It seems like we're further removed than we actually are from the Leafs playing playoff hockey. Realistically, it hasn't even been a full 4 weeks yet since the Leafs were eliminated. Shortly before that, we were celebrating the first playoff series win in almost 20 years. Oh, how fast things can change.
When thinking back on the Leafs' first playoff series win since 2004, there were a few standout moments that got everyone up out of their seats. Of course, John Tavares' Game 6 OT winner was one of them, but another was Steven Stamkos jumping Auston Matthews in Game 3, leading to the first fight of Matthews' NHL career.
During a recent appearance on the "Clearing the Crease" podcast, Stamkos spoke about the incident and told James Cybulski, Andrew Raycroft and Mike Commodore what triggered the need, in his mind, to grab ahold of Matthews and start swinging.
"We saw Brayden Point go head-first into the board and he was moaning and screaming and it kind of looked like a dangerous hit. So there had to be a response. Kuch (Nikita Kucherov) got in there, I got in there.. at that point I thought it was a dirty play. I didn't have a chance to watch the replay and understand it was just kind of a tough luck type of thing.
It looked like he's probably done. And there was a little skirmish and I'm like 'screw this, I'm just going to grab Matthews and see what happens.' I mean, obviously, he's their best player and one of our best players just went into the boards. Screw it, let's just start to throw rabbit punches and see what happens. It was nothing against Auston Matthews other than he was right there and he's their best player. It just kind of happened." - Stamkos on why he jumped Matthews in Game 3 of the Leafs/Lightning series
It looked like he's probably done. And there was a little skirmish and I'm like 'screw this, I'm just going to grab Matthews and see what happens.' I mean, obviously, he's their best player and one of our best players just went into the boards. Screw it, let's just start to throw rabbit punches and see what happens. It was nothing against Auston Matthews other than he was right there and he's their best player. It just kind of happened." - Stamkos on why he jumped Matthews in Game 3 of the Leafs/Lightning series
We know that hockey is a fast sport and plays like Rielly/Point race just happen sometimes. Injuries happen, even if they come as a result of an unintentional collision after a puck race. It's good to hear Stamkos acknowledge that it was more of a "tough luck thing" than anything else and obviously, as Stamkos said, it had nothing to do with Matthews. He might have swung on anyone in the area at that point. That's just all a part of what it's like to play in the playoffs, where the emotions are heightened. I will, however, be interested to see if Matthews goes after Stamkos at some point next season to get the chance to square up with him fairly, without having been jumped first.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 5 | 502 ANSWERS Steven Stamkos finally breaks his silence and explains why he jumped Auston Matthews in Game 3 Will we see a round 2 scrap between Stamkos vs Matthews at some point next season?? | ||
| Yes | 83 | 16.5 % |
| No | 419 | 83.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
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