Auston Matthews of San Ramon, California recorded his sixth career National Hockey League hat trick on Tuesday. The first overall pick of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft scored thrice in a 6-4 Toronto Maple Leafs win over the expansion Seattle Kraken.
Matthews opened the scoring at 3:18 of the first period on the power play from Swedish international William Nylander of Calgary, Alberta, and Morgan Rielly of Vancouver, British Columbia. Matthews then tied the game at four from Michael Bunting of Scarborough, Ontario, and Mitch Marner of Markham, Ontario at 9:03 of the third period. After Marner scored the game winning goal 40 seconds later on the power play, Matthews recorded the hat trick with an insurance marker into an empty net with 42 seconds left in the third period from Timothy Liljegren of Kristianstad, Sweden to close out the scoring.
Matthews currently leads the NHL in goals (43), and even strength goals (30). Matthews’s 43 goals are five more than Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, and the New York Rangers’ Chris Kreider, who have 38 goals each. Matthews’ 30 even strength goals are four more than Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor, who has 26 goals. Matthews and Connor have something in common as they are both American-born players on Canadian teams. Connor is a native of Shelby Township, Michigan.
This was the third hat trick for Matthews this season. He previously had a three-goal game in an 8-3 Toronto win over the Colorado Avalanche on December 1, and three goals in a 6-4 Toronto win over the New Jersey Devils on January 31. Matthews’s previous hat tricks came on October 12, 2016 in a 5-4 Maple Leafs loss to the Ottawa Senators (scored four goals), in a 7-4 Maple Leafs win over the Devils on January 14, 2020, and in a 6-5 Maple Leafs win over the Senators on April 10, 2021.
The Maple Leafs are comfortably in a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. With a record of 37 wins, 16 regulation losses, and four losses in extra time, they have 78 points.
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