This is the second fastest start to Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews' season since 2020, which means he could be filling his trophy case with some more hardware soon.
Matthews is arguably the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs player of all-time. Although he doesn't have a Stanley Cup ring, or the doesn't have the scars that Doug Gilmour had for their long playoff runs in the 1990s, his accolades and skillset is unlike any player.
Drafted No. 1 overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Matthews transformed the team and changed the landscape of where this franchise was. It's hard to believe but 10 years ago, the Leafs were a laughing stock. Obviously many people still feel this way as they've choked away playoff leads and have yet to get over the hump, but it wasn't that long ago that a playoff berth was a successful season.
Now that the playoffs are ultimately guranteed each and every season, it feels like Matthews' greatness is seemingly taken for granted when it should be celebrated each of every night.
In five games thus far, Matthews has four goals and one assist. That may not sound like an impressive start for the multiple Rocket "Richard" Trophy winner, but he's scored 60 goals in a campaign with a worse start. In 2021-22, he finished with 60 goals, yet he only scored one goal in his first five games. In the 2018-19 season, he came out guns blazing with nine goals in his five games, only to finish the season 37.
Matthews is off to another hot start
Injuries obviously halted his incredible start, but in what could have been a historic season, Matthews fell short of a Leafs single-season record, which he ultimately broke in 2022, then again in 2024.
So as we look at this version of the Leafs, and Matthews' big overtime goal against the New York Rangers on Thursday night, it's safe to say that the team is going to need him to score more than ever this year. With Mitch Marner now in Vegas, Matthews is going to have to take a bigger role than he ever has.
It doesn't necessarily mean that we should be relying on him to break his previous 69 goal mark, but it does mean that this four goals every five games pace should continue. As we've seen early on, if the Leafs are going to be successful, they need Matthews to score and they need him to score big goals like he did on Thursday night.
The team can't rely on Calle Jarnkrok to continue his hot goal-scoring streak with three goals in five games but he can rely on Matthews and this hot-start should put him into the conversation for another Maurice "Rocket" Richard trophy and a Hart Trophy because if he can score 60 goals without Marner, he deserves the hardware.