Auston Matthews called out by Bryan Hayes after Leafs lose Game 2 - "They need a lot more out of him"

Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs suffered a defeat to the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series at the Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

The Maple Leafs are now already 0-2 down in the series. In Game 2, they were leading on the night 2-0, however, as the game moved into the second period, the Maple Leafs lost their momentum, resulting in a 3-2 loss.

The playoffs have not gone that well for Matthews so far and he's yet to score a single goal against the Panthers in Round 2, which is really a matter of concern for the Maple Leafs camp.

Recently, Bryan Hayes of TSN on Sportscenter discussed the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers series and discussed Auston Matthews' tough start in the series:

"Whoever Matthews plays he should be the best player on the ice and he was not good enough tonight again the turnover on the go ahead goal the game winner at the beginning of the second period that's on him.

Hayes then went on to say that Auston Matthews is among the best players in the world but he'll need to step forward and produce a performance like Matthew Tkachuk and Leon Draisaitl have been producing for their teams in the playoffs.

"He took a stick handle the to end the second period that set a poor tone at the beginning of the third period. He is in the same room as the best players in the world. He needs to play like Leon Draisaitl has been doing every single night in the playoffs like Matthew Tkachuk has been doing like Nathan MacKinnon did before they got knocked out.

He further went on to say that since the Toronto Maple Leafs are now down 0-2 in the series, it is high time for Matthews to step up in the remaining games. He added that Matthews is capable of doing all those things:

He's more than capable of doing it. He did it multiple times in the first round. Now they're down to two, it's on him.

Auston Matthews shares an intimate moment with his father during Round 1

The Toronto Maple Leafs star forward was one of the goal scorers to help the team advance to the second round for the first time since 2004 in Game 6 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Matthews' father, was also present at the game. He jumped out of his seat as the Leafs won, and was overjoyed with the victory.

Auston Matthews went into the stands and hugged his father shortly after the game.

Watch the video here.