Maple Leafs Benefitting Greatly From an Incredible Auston Matthews Statistic

On Monday morning, fans in Toronto were surprised to see Auston Matthews absent from practice for the Maple Leafs after a 4-3 OT loss to the Senators over the weekend.

The absence was explained by Leafs head coach Craig Berube as nothing more than a rest day after playing 26:23 worth of ice time on Saturday evening.

Some fans, however, were frustrated by the team's captain skipping practice in the playoffs -- mostly because it's not the first practice Matthews has missed during the post-season.

That shouldn't be the focus, though, as Matthews has been highly productive in this series, having produced 5 points across 4 games. In fact, Sportsnet's Luke Fox recently shared an eye-opening statistic that shows just how vital Matthews has been to the Leafs' success in these playoffs thus far.

According to Fox, the Leafs have outscored the Sens 5-0 at even strength when Matthews has been on the ice in this series. Even more impressive, though, is that they lead the Senators 10-1 in all situations with Matthews on the ice.

Matthews is not the only member of the Core 4 who has been highly productive through their first 4 games of the playoffs. In fact, all 4 members, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares, and the aforementioned Matthews, are over a point per game.

If the Leafs can put together a strong effort tonight in Toronfo and dispatch of the Senators in 5 games, they'll set themselves up nicely to be able to get some rest between rounds and heal up some bumps and bruises before meeting the winner of the Panthers/Lightning series.

If Matthews and the rest of the core can add to their already impressive post-season stats, perhaps it will act as a bit of a springboard for them against a tough Round 2 opponent and help them maintain their strong production as the playoffs progress.