On New Year's Eve, I watched the Leafs - Islanders game in entirety.  In the midst of a rough stretch, Matthew Knies stood out.  Despite staying off the scoresheet, he was buzzing throughout the game, putting five shots on net in over 20 minutes of ice time.  After being a passive shooter for almost two months, Knies was gunning regularly, which was encouraging.  It felt like a big game was on the horizon, but we didn't get a big game.  We got a massive game.  Knies had one of the games of the season so far, scoring a hat trick against the Bruins.  That's not all though.  Knies also had two assists, six shots on goal, two penalty minutes, and had a +6 rating in the 6-4 win.  Wow.  He followed that up with another goal against the Flyers on Sunday.  The return of Matthews can only help Knies.  He's locked into a large role at even strength, and while he's not on PP1, Knies has played his way onto the fringe of 12'ers.  Let's take a look at what else happened over the weekend: