Auston Matthews took the ice for the first time in his NHL career tonight against Ottawa, and immediately started scoring. Ten minutes into the first period, he popped up in the right place during a goalmouth scramble, and slipped his shot in.
His second was far more impressive, and it came just a few minutes later. By my count, he beat six dudes on his own here including the keeper, and ended up scoring all by himself with a perfectly places shot into the bottom corner.
Congratulations to the Maple Leafs on their Stanley Cup.
Update (9:00 p.m. EDT): Matthews, unsatisfied with becoming the fourth player ever to score a hat trick in his debut, went and became the only one to score four goals. Here’s the third, a simple tap-in.
And the fourth, on a two-on-one.