Craig Berube Makes Bold Statement on Leafs Leadership Following Dominant Win Over Flames

In what must seem like the deepest breath of fresh air, the Toronto Maple Leafs came out swinging against the Calgary Flames and didn't let up. Coming away with a 6-2 victory while getting two goals from Auston Matthews (which was sorely needed), it was a great night for the team altogether.

If the team can keep this type of pace every game, then their journey for an Atlantic Division Championship is going to be a lot easier on them over the next few weeks.

A lot of it can be credited to Matthews, who looked his best in awhile, and finally looked a bit like the captain of old.

It's something that felt like a rarity recently, and with this small sample size a hope of things to come, it's safe to say fans were happy.

So to was head coach Craig Berube, who took time post-game to praise his captain and take a bit of a pot-shot at the media for questioning his leadership:

While you can't argue that the captain did his job on Monday night, it's more an issue with consistency. We don't see this every night from Matthews, and it's only when he's feeling like he's under pressure from outside does he step things up.

This is also a hopeful sign that Matthews isn't actually injured as speculated previously, and was just dealing with some bad luck and a scoring drought as opposed to something holding him back.

This season, Matthews has 60 points in 52 games (26G, 34A) even though he's missed 15 games this season due to injuries.

It's a huge downfall from his campaign last year, which saw him hit a historic 69 goals; tying Mario Lemieux for the most in a season since 1995-96.

A huge weight seemed to be lifted off Auston Matthews' shoulders with his dominating performance against the Flames.

Now it's just up to him to keep things going, and prove that this isn't just a fluke in a very inconsistent season.