The Toronto Maple Leafs have come flying out of the gate to start the 2017-18 season.
I’ll never get tired of writing about Auston Matthews leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to victory, which for this season has already happened twice, most recently on Saturday night.
I mean, setting an under the radar franchise record (two game-winning overtime goals in the same week) is one thing, but doing it at 20 years of age is another.
Connor McDavid’s a very special player with one of the highest skill sets this game has ever seen, nobody’s questioning that, but he’s not the perfect player and neither is Matthews.
They play a very different style game, but I’m still feeling pretty fortunate to have Matthews on the Leafs, all the way from his character to his skill.
He’s always calm, cool, composed and collected, never letting his emotions dictate his actions, which is something that gets often overlooked with professional athletes because very few can say they’re like that at that young of an age.
Those personality/character traits carry over to the way he plays hockey and I’d be comfortable saying that there’s no NHL player in the game right now that’s just like Matthews.
He sits alone at the maturity to skill level, higher than McDavid (no disrespect intended, I already mentioned McDavid’s status).
I’m not the only one to notice as even the NHL gave him a proper nod this week.
Auston Matthews
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It’s a special honor to be awarded one of the three stars of the week in the NHL, just look at all the competition.
Matthews earned the second star of the week, sandwiched in between Nikolaj Ehlers (first star) and Nicklas Backstrom (third star).
Here’s the excerpt on Matthews from the NHL article announcing the three.
"Matthews recorded four goals (4-0-4), including two in overtime, to power the Maple Leafs (4-1-0, 8 points) to a pair of wins in three starts. He collected his second career overtime goal in a 4-3 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks Oct. 9. Matthews also scored in a 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils Oct. 11 before capping the week with two goals, including the overtime winner, in a 4-3 triumph over the Montreal Canadiens Oct. 14. The 20-year-old Scottsdale, Ariz., native and reigning Clader Memorial Trophy winner has registered 45-32-77 in 87 career NHL games, including a club-high 5-3-8 in five contests this season. His 45 goals are tied for second in the League since the start of the 2016-17 campaign, behind only Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby (47)."
I know that’s a lot to include, but it’s well worth the read just to have a little refresher course on just how good he is.
To say that Matthews is having a decent start to the season would be an understatement, this kid’s on fire.
And to top it off, his overtime winner against the Montreal Canadiens was also a big milestone for Mike Babcock who recorded his 600th win as an NHL coach.
Good stuff.