Auston Matthews has words with official after his 10-minute misconduct.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres played a thrilling game last night. The Leafs entered KeyBank Center with confidence and purpose, hoping to finish with two points. In addition to accomplishing this, Auston Matthews and Ilya Samsonov also played well, with Matthews scoring his 60th goal of the year and Samsonov making 34 saves to record a shutout.

With the Sabres losing 3-0 on home ice, things got a bit unruly in the late stages of the 3rd period, leading to all 10 players on the ice locking horns for a post-whistle skirmish that the officials had a hard time containing. While most players on the ice traded shoves, putting guys in headlocks or exchanging a few punches, Auston Matthews was content just to grab a body and keep things even out there, while players like Mark Giordano, Tyler Bertuzzi and Alex Tuch wanted a piece of anyone they could get their hands on.

The officials decided to dismiss all five players from both teams when they had eventually gained control, giving them a 10-minute misconduct penalty apiece. Matthews didn’t appear to be all that fond about this, as he didn’t think he should have been sent off the field for barely throwing a punch. Matthews made sure to skate by the referee before heading off the ice to let his wrath out.

Matthews had no intention of fighting anyone on the ice, nor did he do anything to warrant a 10-minute misconduct. In fact, prior to last night’s game, Matthews had racked up just 2 minor penalties all season long and was likely in strong consideration for the Lady Byng Trophy, awarded to the player deemed most sportsmanlike. Adding 12 penalty minutes to his season-long total last night, Matthews is almost certainly out of the running now.

Naturally, Matthews probably wasn’t too concerned with the Lady Byng Trophy in the first place. It’s not the trophy he wants to put in his trophy case. The one he wants more than anything else is a Stanley Cup. I’m sure there will be more than one line brawl en route to that goal, if the Leafs can get there. I’m sure Matthews would happily wrestle, headlock and even punch his way to a Stanley Cup if that’s what it takes – though none of that will matter if he doesn’t continue to score like only he can.

With the playoffs being just a month away, it’s wonderful to see the Leafs getting their heads in the game and adapting to that style of play in March. It will give them a very tough 1st round battle for any Eastern Conference team, be it the Bruins, the Panthers, the Rangers or the Hurricanes.