While Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews is receiving some undeserved criticism for his performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics not being up to the game-breaking standards that his Canadian counterpart Connor McDavid has put on display, he's still playing very well while representing his country. And maybe the thing that defines his under-the-radar impact more than anything is the fact that no one really noticed one of the best passes we've seen this decade, and no one was really talking about it.
Auston Matthews makes one of the best passes all-time during Olympic action
Just minutes into the third period of the United States' semifinal against Slovakia, Jake Guentzel flipped the puck backhand while being pressured by an opposing defender. It was then attempted to be intercepted by a separate Slovakian player but it bobbled up into the air. With maybe the most swift mid-air motion to make the play, Matthews, with just one hand on his stick, then redirected the floating puck and knocked it up to his linemate Matt Boldy for a clean play.
Possibly the best play of the tournament. Maybe the best pass of all time. #USA #teamcap #Matthews pic.twitter.com/6WNWm9ahAb
— Anant (@AnantAndAWhale) February 20, 2026
It is just unfathomable to think of someone being able to do this at that speed. And it wasn't even just for the sake of making something look very cool -- Boldy was able to pass it right back to Matthews and the Leafs captain made a very clean entry into the offensive zone with acres of space in front of him.
The pass was a wildly fancy play to bat that puck, making it look like it was second nature to just fling around your stick with just one hand and bump it up to a teammate, but also a productive one that lead to the United States having a chance to score.
Maybe, finally, if enough people are able to see this viral highlight of someone needing to record their screen from their phone and post it on Twitter, Matthews can stop receiving a whole lot of discreditation thrown his way. For some reason, he's not being thought of as one of the United States' top players and potentially the best forward among the crop. Instead, they'd rather point fingers at players like Brady Tkachuk as the supposed better player.
But enough about focusing on the fans who just want to be negative all the time, or just hate a player because they play for the Toronto Maple Leafs -- Matthews just made the best play of the 2026 Winter Olympics and it was barely noticed.