from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet,

There isn’t much point in wading too deep into the MVP debate with three months left in the regular season, but Matthews is clearly among a group of serious challengers that includes Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, David Pastrnak and Jack Eichel, among others.

He now trails Pastrnak by one goal in the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy and is on pace for a 56-goal, 98-point season — both of which would put him in rarified air in Leafs history.

What made his performance so special against Winnipeg is that he’s currently playing through a minor undisclosed injury, according to a source, which is why he left Tuesday afternoon’s practice after 10 minutes. So it was at something less than 100 per cent where he skated for a career-high 25:41 while generating eight of his team’s 28 shots on goal, and 13 attempts overall.

You are starting to see Matthews exert his will in all three zones, too, forcing a Jack Roslovic turnover at centre moments before his first goal Wednesday. He has taken his scoring rate from great to ridiculous in Year 4 — hitting the 30-goal mark with that snipe in the first period of his 45th game after doing it in Games 48, 57 and 61 the previous three seasons.

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