Maple Leafs fans made their feelings about Auston Matthews quite clear Wednesday night.
A member of the Toronto faithful tossed Matthews’ jersey onto the ice as the team was in the midst of getting dismantled, 6-1, by the Panthers at ScotiaBank Arena.
Matthews, the biggest name on the team, is goalless in this series and hasn’t scored since the deciding Game 6 against the Senators in the first round.
“I don’t think we gave them much reason to stick around,” Matthews told reporters of the negative fan reaction.
The loss was the third straight for the Maple Leafs after they won the opening two games, and they now are on the brink of elimination with the series shifting back to South Florida for Game 6 on Friday night.
“I don’t think there’s really any excuse or explanation,” Matthews said of the team’s lifeless performance. “We’ve got to win a game to keep our season alive.”
Matthews, 27, is in the second year of a four-year, $53 million contract, and it’s possible it will be his last season playing alongside fellow star Mitch Marner.
Marner, 28, led the team with 102 points this season but is heading toward free agency this offseason.
Fans on social media trashed the team’s two biggest stars.
“I’m gonna say it and you can trash me all you want. I’m sick of Matthews more than I’m sick of Marner. They can both leave for all I care. Absolute loser energy players,” one fan wrote on X.
“Did anyone tell Marner and Matthews that ‘All or Nothing’ was not meant to be taken literally orrrrrr ?” TNT reporter Jackie Redmond wrote.
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The scrutinized franchise has not won a Stanley Cup since 1967, and the Maple Leafs now have to rally to win two straight against the defending champions to keep their season alive.
Toronto was a goal away from taking a 3-0 series lead, but fell, 5-4, in overtime in Game 3 before getting outscored, 8-1, spanning the next two games.
“This what was the worst performance we’ve seen in a long time in a game that had so many implications,” Rangers legend Mark Messier said on the ESPN postgame show.
“(One of) two things are going to happen going into Game 6: This was so devastating for the Maple Leafs, they completely quit on themselves and each other or this is going to be so incredibly embarrassing that they are going to rally around each other and come up with their best performance of the year … They have to show up and show some character.”