Leading up to the Feb. 26 NHL Trade Deadline, there was plenty of public pressure in Toronto for general manager Lou Lamoriello to trade van Riemsdyk, thereby ensuring the Maple Leafs would receive some sort of return for him. The fear was that he'd be able to walk away in the summer without Toronto getting something back.
Lamoriello viewed the situation differently. Rather than trade for scoring down the stretch, why not just keep your own version of the rent-a-player in van Riemsdyk?
So far, Lamoriello's logic is paying off.
"He has obviously been real hot here since the trade deadline," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "I don't know if it's you get to concentrate on hockey and not think about the other things, but he's been good for us. He's obviously got real good hands around the net and [been] an important player for us."
Van Riemsdyk credited the play of linemates Tyler Bozak and Connor Brown for his goal-scoring streak. He can't remember scoring five goals in two games as a professional.
"Probably not in the NHL, no," he said. "I think our line has been playing good for a while now, maybe not getting rewarded with some of the bounces as we'd like, but I've liked a lot about our game. We seem to be playing confidently and finding each other and doing that sort of stuff."
The victory gave the Maple Leafs 91 points, five behind the second-place Boston Bruins in the Atlantic Division and 14 ahead of the Florida Panthers.
The win gave Toronto a 10-6-2 record this season without Matthews in the lineup. They are 4-2-2 since he was injured against the Islanders.
Matthews is close to returning but has yet to take part in a full-contact practice. As such, he is not expected to be in the lineup when the Maple Leafs host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN, TVAS, NHL.TV).
Toronto could also be without goaltender Frederik Andersen and forward Leo Komarov.
Andersen suffered an upper-body injury against the Stars in the second period and did not make the trip to Buffalo.
Much like van Riemsdyk has stepped up in the absence of Matthews, so has backup goaltender Curtis McElhinney. One night after getting the win in relief against Dallas, he got his 60th career NHL victory. He is 9-4-1 this season.