Matthews and Hanifin: Good friends, better opponents Before every game this season, Auston Matthews fields a question or two about facing another NHL star for the first time. But when the Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Carolina Hurricanes tonight, there will be a familiar face patrolling the opposition’s blue line – Matthews’ childhood friend and teammate, Noah Hanifin.

Kristen Shilton TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter Follow|Archive

TORONTO – Before every game this season, Auston Matthews fields a question or two about facing another NHL star for the first time.

But when the Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Carolina Hurricanes tonight, there will be a familiar face patrolling the opposition’s blue line – Matthews’ childhood friend and teammate, Noah Hanifin.

“My first youth hockey tournament (at age eight or nine) was in Toronto and Auston was on my team - [We were the] the Boston Jr. Bruins,” said Hanifin, a native of Norwood, Massachusetts. “He was an Arizona boy who played on a team from Boston. We’ve been pretty good friends over the years, I still keep in touch with him quite a bit.

“I’m glad to see he’s doing well.”

That tournament - which Hanifin proudly notes that they won - was just the beginning for the twosome. They’ve suited up for the United States together at the World Junior Championship and the U-18 World Championship. But there was a time when Matthews was a relatively unknown commodity in the hockey world. His game has undoubtedly grown since, but Hanifin could already see the foundation of what he would become.

“[He played] the same as he does now,” he explained. “He’s so skilled. He’s always been like that.

“Just being from Arizona, not too many people heard of him when he was in youth hockey. I remember when we went to the 40-man camp to try out for the [U.S. National Team Development Program] he opened up a lot of eyes there and everyone realized how good he is.”

Since lighting up the Ottawa Senators for four goals in his NHL debut, Matthews has been developing his two-way game without the offensive totals to back it. The 19-year old is mired in a 12-game scoring drought that he admits is “frustrating” despite the landslide of quality chances he’s generated over the span. Matthews leads the league in even-strength unblocked shot attempts and scoring chances and is ninth overall in the league in shots.

Hanifin doesn’t remember his friend struggling to put pucks in the net before, but predicts he’s handling the dry spell the same way he does everything else.

“Just knowing Auston, he’s a very mentally tough kid,” Hanifin explained. “He works extremely hard and he really wants to get better every day. I’m sure whatever drought he’s going through now, he’s going to find his way through it.”

As the slump goes on, Matthews and the Leafs’ coaching staff have kept a positive attitude about the strides he’s made defensively, his success at the faceoff dot and how his line has generated opportunities. With the streaking Hurricanes (winners of four straight) presenting the next chance for Matthews to get the monkey off his back, there appears to be no need for trash talk to get them fired up.

“I imagine it will be very competitive [tonight], Noah’s a very competitive person,” Matthews said. “It’s always fun to play against guys who you grew up playing youth hockey with, junior hockey with. To go against them here in the NHL is pretty special.”



Morning skate notes

- Forward lines and defensive pairs remained the same for Toronto, with Peter Holland, Martin Marincin and Frank Corrado the scratches. Josh Leivo has also returned from his AHL conditioning stint and was on the ice for skate, but remains an Injured Non-Roster player while he gets up to speed with the Maple Leafs.

- Toronto has a 7-2 record at home and has scored six goals in each of their last two contests at Air Canada Centre. It’s a stark contrast to their 1-5-3 road record, and until those numbers stabilize, continuing to excel on home ice is crucial. “At home you get the matchups you want a little easier so that definitely plays a role,” Tyler Bozak said. “We want [this] to be a place where teams know they’re going to have a tough game, it’s going to be a tough night. We’ve got to establish that. I think we’ve been doing a good job of that lately and we have to carry that over to tonight.”

- To try and douse the red-hot Hurricanes, goaltender Frederik Andersen will get his 10th straight start in net. His career-long is 19 starts, back in 2014-15. Ultimately he sees the key to Toronto’s success on Tuesday as not overusing their skill sets. “[Carolina] plays really tight to the opposition. We have to be aware of the neutral zone and make sure we don’t spend too much time with the puck and make sure we can chip it by them. That’s going to be the key for us, just not making too many pretty plays and make the plays effective.”