Quoting: LeafsFanZay
Dude, the jets always throw Adam Lowry out against McDavid, and the one time they didn't it ended up in the back of their net. Third line players are shutdown players, last year in the cup finals point got the matchups against like, blake comeau while gourde would be out against seguin.
My advice is maybe do a little reasearch before making statements
The Jets get caved in at 5v5 from a chance perspective Matthews gets piles of good looks every game. Lowry isn't a good shut down guy. Boston still sends out Bergeron against the other teams best. Pittsburgh sends out Crosby. The Leafs should send out Matthews. Any team they does send out a 3rd line against a top line is just hoping to limit damage and then hope their top line can wreck a 3rd line. Which is a best case scenario. If the Leafs play Tampa, and they send Gourde out against Matthews, I will take they match up all day. Matthews will win it over 7 games by a wide margin. But Matthews vs Point? They will need to be far more careful. This is what every team does. What you are likely seeing that is swaying your decision is isolated situations on the road. The other team had last change and throws their stars out against the 3rd line or they are trying to get a favorable matchup elsewhere. When the game is on the line though, Gourde is never going to be out in a tie game with 4 minutes left to shutdown another teams top line, it's going to be Point double shifting trying to score