Zach Aston-Reese reaches new career high with Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs are getting the most out of forward Zach Aston-Reese, who first arrived at training camp last fall on a professional tryout. And while he's occasionally been made a healthy scratch, he's made his return to the lineup matter.

During last night's game against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets, he tallied his career high 10th goal in what would eventually be a 4-2 triumph for the Leafs. And you can bet that he was feeling good about being a contributor afterward.

"It’s pretty special," he explained in his postgame presser. "It was a long summer not knowing what was going to happen. I always believed in myself and it’s nice to be in a place that believes in me."

“I know they want me to be physical and finishing checks, and it doesn’t have to be blowing up guys every night. It’s just being stiff and aggressive on the puck,” he continued.

Meanwhile, head coach Sheldon Keefe was full of praise for how Aston-Reese has handled himself in the last couple of weeks.

"I would say it has been more than a couple of weeks," Keefe said. "He has been excellent, I would say, from the trade deadline and maybe even a week or two before the trade deadline. He has really settled in. He has played a lot of time with Kampf. The guys have really had some great chemistry. They are talking a lot. They know what the expectation is and what we need from them. He has scored some good goals for us which has got his confidence going offensively. He is scoring the right kind of goals for a guy like him."

"He is not getting odd-man rushes or anything like this. He is working for it. He is around the net, whether it is pucks hitting him, him tipping it, or finding pucks in the slot."