Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews of San Ramon, California recorded his seventh career National Hockey League hat trick on Monday. In the process, he tied a Maple Leafs record for most goals in a season with 54, in a somewhat surprising 6-2 Maple Leafs win over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion, Tampa Bay Lightning. Matthews tied the record previously set by Rick Vaive of Ottawa, Ontario who had 54 goals in the 1981-82 NHL season. It was the first of three consecutive seasons in which Vaive reached 50 goals, as he also had 51 goals in 1982-83, and 52 goals in 1983-84.
Matthews scored his first goal of the game, his 52nd of the season, from Michael Bunting of Scarborough, Ontario, and Mitch Marner of Markham, Ontario, at 1:46 of the second period to put the Maple Leafs up 2-1. Matthews then scored the game-winning goal at 9:57 of the second period from Marner to put the Maple Leafs up 3-2. Matthews’s hat trick goal came with an unassisted marker to put the Maple Leafs up 5-2. Matthews then added an assist for his fourth point of the game on a goal by Marner at 11:24 of the third period.
Matthews’s first career hat trick was memorable. He scored four goals in his first career NHL game in a 5-4 Toronto loss to the Ottawa Senators on October 12, 2016. That was followed by a three-goal game in a 7-4 Toronto win over the New Jersey Devils on January 14, 2020, in a 6-5 Toronto win over Ottawa on April 10, 2021, in an 8-3 win over Colorado on December 1, 2021, in a 6-4 win over the Devils on January 31, and in a 6-4 win over the Seattle Kraken on March 8.
On the season, Matthews now has a NHL-high 54 goals and 40 even strength goals. He also has 38 assists for 92 points, is a +14 with 14 penalty minutes, 25 power-play points, eight game-winning goals, 294 shots on goal, 602 faceoff wins, 51 blocked shots, 56 hits, 76 takeaways, and 43 giveaways.
With the win, the Maple Leafs are in second place in the Atlantic Division with 95 points. They have two more points than the third place Tampa Bay Lightning.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
