Max Pacioretty responds to claims that the Toronto Maple Leafs are better without Auston Matthews

Earlier this week Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews suffered an injury in a game against the Minnesota Wild. Today it was announced that Matthews would be placed on injured reserve due to the injury.

Since being injured the Toronto Maple Leafs have played just one game but looked incredible beating the Boston Bruins 4-0.

After the game discussion began amongst fans about the strong effort from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

To this point in the season the Toronto Maple Leafs offense had struggled particularly on the power play but against the Bruins three power play goals were scored. This led to major blame being placed on Auston Matthews.

Now this evening Maple Leafs forward Max Pacioretty spoke about the Maple Leafs' success and if Auston Matthews can be blamed for the team's struggles to this point.

In a new interview before tonight's game Max Pacioretty spoke about Auston Matthews and the perception that his absence has improved the team.

Max Pacioretty was quick to point out that despite the lack of success Auston Matthews is in his mind the best player in the world right now.

This is a bold claim from Max Pacioretty when other players like Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Sidney Crosby still exist but one that can be argued.\

Either way, it is good to see a veteran like Max Pacioretty sticking up for his captain and once again proving that his character is one of the reasons the Maple Leafs took a chance on him despite his age and injury history.

Tonight it seems like the Maple Leafs once again have found success on the power play. This time with a pair of power-play goals from former captain John Tavares.

While it certainly seems like the Toronto Maple Leafs power-play is functioning better without Auston Matthews the team still clearly backs their star which is great in the long run.