Feb 25, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (34) shoots the puck as Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk (27) chases at the Air Canada Centre. Montreal defeated Toronto 3-2 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 25, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (34) shoots the puck as Montreal Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk (27) chases at the Air Canada Centre. Montreal defeated Toronto 3-2 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /
After a long and painful wait, the Toronto Maple Leafs are a good hockey team and are scoring goals.
The Leafs have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs for the first time since the 2012-13 season. They even have a chance at winning the Atlantic Division but the odds are slim, especially after losing to the Canadiens again.
I’m pretty sure I forgot one rookie that’s had a rather big impact on the Leafs this year.
Oh yeah, Auston Matthews.
The kid just scored his 29th and 30th goal of the season the other night matching Patrik Laine for the rookie lead in goals in the 2016-17 season. Jeff Carter, Laine, and Matthews are all tied for 2nd overall in goals. They are only four back from the league lead in goals, which is 34 posted by Sidney Crosby.
Matthews has a pretty good chance at beating Wendel Clark’s rookie goal scoring total for the Leafs, which is set at 34. Not only does he have a chance at taking a shot at recording the most goals this league, he could also claim a franchise record. On top of it all, he’s scoring pretty nice goals. Let’s count down to his best goal of the season.
A lot of Matthews goals are quite similar, which is not a bad thing. But, what sets this goal out and makes it worthy of being on the list is the quick release and bar down action we see.
Zach Hyman dishes the puck out in front of the net. Matthews gathers and releases it as quickly as possible, resulting in a bar down beauty.
The key to this goal is how quick the puck goes from his stick to its destination. He is establishing himself as a marksman, channeling his inner Phil Kessel for one of the best wrist shots in the NHL.
Auston Matthews OT winner at the Centennial Classic. His second goal of the game. pic.twitter.com/YEA3Rj7ceM
Probably one of the most emotional goals Matthews has scored in his career. It was his second goal of the game and also the overtime winner of the Centennial Classic.
Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get to see this goal live because I was away on vacation. He starts this play out by simply skating the puck into the offensive zone and dropping it back.
He then goes to the front of the net and chips the puck behind Jared Coreau off the boards. Doesn’t look like there’s a lot to it at first glance, but the simplicity behind the backhand makes for a nice goal.
Deflecting a puck is something that is worked on a lot by players to try and perfect the craft. James van Riemsdyk is a good example of someone who is good at it. Sidney Crosby is a great example of someone who is great at it.
This example of Matthews deflecting the puck into the back of the net is just pure excellence. As seen here, he simply skates to the front of the net and reaches his stick out with one hand to gently redirect the puck past John Gibson.
Again, just so everyone read it correctly. He did this with only using one hand. Truly remarkable.
This night was just special in and of itself. In hist first NHL game, he scored four goals. It’s absolutely absurd.
What’s even more impressive is the fact that he scored one of the niftiest goals of the season. He takes the puck from Mark Stone, puts it through Mike Hoffman’s legs, guards it against Kyle Turris and Hoffman, steals it from Erik Karlsson, shoots it before Marc Methot could block it and it ends up behind Craig Anderson.
He literally beat seven opponents singlehanded before scoring the goal. Take a closer look at Matthews’ head just before he shoots. He appears to be dialed in on passing the puck before quickly snapping it in for his second career NHL goal.
I’m really trying not to be biased with this, I actually think it deserves to be listed where it is. The reason why I could be biased in the first place is because I was at this game, sitting just two rows up behind the Leafs bench.
This goal is just pure filth. It’s somewhat similar to the goal that Alex Ovechkin scored early on in his career.
Matthews is seen driving to the net as he gets pushed forward by Phillip Di Giuseppe. He twists and turns his body while still keeping the puck on his backhand as he’s literally falling over.
Somehow, he manages to slip the puck past Cam Ward for what should be the best goal of the season, or at least is so far.
I wish that Matthews was the one to score this goal off of his own setup, but that’s literally impossible. He did 99.9% of the work, the only .1% being the fact that he didn’t put the puck in the back of the net and Leo Komarov did.
He protects the puck along the boards (one of the best in the game at doing that) and skates behind the net, only to do a complete spin followed by feeding it to Komarov for the dirtiest dish in your Mothers kitchen sink. He’s a special player, one the Leafs community should be happy to have around for his entire NHL career.
