from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

He was fully deserving of the awards and it adds to a rather impressive trophy case that includes the rookie of the year, two Rocket Richard trophies, and now a Hart and a Lindsay, the largest individual trophies in the sport.

Matthews entered the NHL in 2016 — and in six seasons, no one has scored more goals than him. Not Alex Ovechkin. Not Leon Draisaitl. Not McDavid.

He is the ultimate goal scorer and, individually, as a regular-season player, there isn’t much Matthews hasn’t accomplished. But this being playoff time, between games of the Stanley Cup final, he is handed his newest trophies, the first Hart for a Maple Leaf in most of our lives, the first Lindsay ever, and it is almost contradictory to applaud his regular season while sneering ever slightly at another run of playoff series left unfinished.

Nine times in the past five years Matthews’ Leafs have been in position to advance to the second round of the playoffs. Nine times the Leafs have lost a potential clinching game — twice against Tampa this year; three times against Montreal last year; once against Columbus in the bubble of 2020; three times against Boston in 2019 and 2018.

He has yet to pull a McDavid or a Nathan MacKinnon or a Makar, grabbing and willing his team to victory. He has yet to win something on his own other than awards.

In the nine clinching playoff games, Matthews, the unmatched goal scorer, has scored just twice.

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