It was really cool to see a few of the very young Minnesota Wild players have big nights on Saturday night but Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs stole the show once again. On opening night earlier this week, Matthews had a hat trick against the Montreal Canadiens.
He followed that up with his second straight game with a hat trick against those Wild. That’s right, Matthews has six goals in his first two games. It is as incredible of a start to the season as he could have asked for. He didn’t have a hat trick all last year so having two already is big.
Matthews had a down year in 2022-23 and he still managed 40 goals. You know you are super elite if you are truly disappointed with a goal total like that in your prime. There were some injuries that likely played into that situation because he was a 60-goal guy a year prior which proves just how lethal he can be.
Everyone was expecting him to bounce back a bit this year. Reaching 50 goals should be a lofty goal for an NHL player but it feels very fair for Matthews based on what he can do. He isn’t going to have a hat trick every night but he is going to create chances for himself to score goals every day.
Auston Matthews is on another level with the Maple Leafs right now.
He also has some outstanding players around him that can help. You know about the core four with Matthews alongside Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander. In the 7-4 win over the Wild, Marner and Tavares each had two assists. Nylander had a goal and two assists as well.
This Maple Leafs team is elite but they will only go where Auston Matthews leads them. He is amongst the best players in the NHL and the league is better when he is playing well. So far, he is playing better than well.
Matthews’ next chance to attempt a hat trick will come on Monday night when they host the Chicago Blackhawks. With Connor Bedard in the building, he might have a little extra jump in his game too which might be dangerous. Hopefully, he keeps up play like this.