Reliving Auston Matthews Top 3 Moments from the 2023-24 NHL Season

Auston Matthews Opens The Season With Back-To-Back Hat Tricks

Coming into the 2023-24 NHL season, there were a lot of questions about which version of Auston Matthews the Toronto Maple Leafs were going to get. In the year before, Matthews had his lowest goal total since the 2017-18 season, scoring only 40 goals.

Saying only 40 goals sounds ridiculous, but the questions were valid, considering Matthews scored 60 goals in 2021-22.

Well, Matthews did not waste any time showing fans he was on a mission to have a bounce back season. The Leafs opened their season up against the Montreal Canadiens on home ice at Scotiabank Arena.

In this game, the Montreal Canadiens jumped out to an early two-goal lead before Noah Gregor scored the first goal of the season for the Maple Leafs. Matthews would then tie the game at 2-2 with his first goal of the game and season; then, William Nylander would score his first of the year to make the game 3-2.

The Leafs would then go on to give up three straight goals to the Canadiens to end up down 5-4 late in the third period. This is where Matthews took the game over, he would go on to score two goals in the last five minutes of the game which sent the game to extra time, where the Leafs would eventually come away with a shootout win.

Following this big win in the season's first game, Matthews would score three more goals in the Maple Leafs very next game against the Minnesota Wild. He led the league in scoring from the season's first game and never looked back.