Auston Matthews under fire again with more former NHLers calling him an embarrassment

The last few moments of the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers from Wednesday night have gone viral. Star forward Auston Matthews was challenged a handful of times only to be saved from having to drop the mitts by his teammates, who instantly confronted Travis Konecny when they tried to get to him.

Sure, no one expects a talented and crucial player like Matthews to drop the gloves, especially when his team is winning. However, former NHLers don’t appreciate the fact that he stands there laughing away when his teammates have to go to war for him.

Former National Hockey League forward and current analyst Mike Rupp quickly called Matthews out on Thursday.

“He doesn’t have to fight here, although he’s the one who started this whole thing as far as going after him in the corner,” Rupp said. “But you can’t just stand there and be okay with your teammates coming to your defense and you just laugh about it. We’ve seen this movie, I’ve seen this time and time again with Auston. Playing the cool card doesn’t work, it doesn’t float. It may look cool on social media, but in that locker room, at some point it will wear thin.”

Former enforcer Andrew Shaw agrees with Rupp and once again put Matthews under fire, by calling him an embarrassment on social media, going on to explain: “He stood there smiling while everyone on the ice is either in a scrum or a fight because of his actions. This isn’t a good example of a good leader at all.”

Fans all love a good fight, and I get the ones stating that Shaw, more than once in his career in Chicago, was there to protect and defend Blackhawks superstar Patrick Kane.

The huge difference according to Shaw, and myself as I look into this, is that Kane really backed down from a fight instead having teammates react quickly to take the heat instead. On top of that, he never provoke rivals or acted like an ass by laughing and taunting the way Matthews was caught doing on Wednesday night.

Who thinks the Maple Leafs strong guys had a chat with Matthews after the game and the viral criticism?