Elliotte Friedman reveals hidden motive behind Auston Matthews' call out towards home crowd following Ryan Reaves fight

Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs lost 5-1 on Wednesday at home to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Leafs were down for the majority of the game and unable to climb back as goaltender Elvis Merzlikins shut the door.

The score and lack of goals from the Maple Leafs led to a rather quiet home crowd throughout the night. Auston Matthews mentioned it postgame, pointing out the lack of buzz after Ryan Reaves got into a fight with Mathieu Olivier just 1:32 in the game. It's not common to see the Maple Leafs captain speak out like that, which has led to plenty of chatter in the aftermath.

Sportsnet's NHL insider Elliotte Friedman shared his thoughts on Matthews' comments in Friday's edition of "32 Thoughts: The Podcast".

"I think what Auston Matthews was doing was making sure that on a night where Toronto lost, Fantilli got a hat trick, and he knew what the storyline was going to be. He wanted to make sure that Reaves got his moment. Because don't forget too, you were just in Montreal where not only did Reaves not get to fight, but he got taunted, right? And they came back and they piled on the Canadians and beat them," Friedman said. [48:00]

"And then Reaves gets another opportunity, and he gets his fight against a really tough guy, and, you know, Olivier knocked him down at the beginning, and Reaves got, got back up and, and fought him pretty hard. I think you are totally, totally right.

"That wasn't as much about the fans themselves as it was about Matthews making sure that Reaves got his moment and that Reaves knew his teammates appreciated what he was trying to do. I don't even really think it was about the fans. I think it was a captain standing up for Reaves."

It was Ryan Reaves' first fight of the season, which came much later into the campaign than he anticipated.

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Auston Matthews is on a five-game goal-scoring streak

Auston Matthews has begun to heat up. In an injury-plagued 2024-25 season that's seen Matthews miss 15 of the Maple Leafs 49 games, he finally appears to have found his rhythm.

The superstar center has scored goals in five consecutive games, a stretch where he's amassed seven points (six goals, one assist). He's now up to 38 points (20 goals, 18 assists) in 34 games this season, the kind of numbers you expect to see from the best goal scorer in the league.

Matthews looks to extend the scoring streak to six games this weekend. Matthews and the Leafs head to Ottawa to take on the Senators on Saturday. The puck drops at 7 p.m. EST at the Canadian Tire Centre.