Brock Boeser and Auston Matthews shine on NHL’s second night

On the National Hockey League’s second night of the 2023-24 regular season, a pair of American players on Canadian franchises were exemplary. Vancouver Canucks right winger Brock Boeser of Burnsville, Minnesota had four goals en route to an 8-1 clobbering over the Edmonton Oilers, and Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews of San Ramon, California had three goals en route to a 6-5 shootout win over the Montreal Canadiens.

Brock Boeser

Boeser notched his fourth career hat trick. He previously scored thrice in a game on November 4, 2017 in a 4-2 Canucks win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, in a 6-1 Canucks win over the St. Louis Blues on December 9, 2018, and in a 5-3 Canucks win over the Los Angeles Kings on October 30, 2019.

On Wednesday, Boeser scored his four goals on eight shots and was a +3. Boeser put the Canucks up 2-0 at 11:27 of the first period from J.T. Miller of East Palestine, Ohio, and Phillip Di Giuseppe of Toronto, Ontario. Boeser then put the Canucks up 3-0 at 4:03 of the second period from Miller and Filip Hronek of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. That was followed by a natural hat trick for Boeser, as he scored from center Elias Petersson of Sundsvall, Sweden and left winger Andrei Kuzmenko of Yakutsk, Russia at 7:30 of the second period on the power-play. Then at 5:43 of the third period, Boeser put the Canucks up 6-1 with a goal from newly named captain Quinn Hughes of Orlando, Florida and Hronek.

Auston Matthews

Matthews notched hid eighth career hat trick. He scored his first of the season from Mitch Marner of Markham, Ontario, and John Tavares of Mississauga, Ontario on the power-play at 14:51 of the second period to tie the game at two. After the Canadiens went up 5-3 at the halfway point of the third period, Matthews scored the last two goals in regulation to tie the game at five. He made it 5-4 on a goal from Morgan Rielly of Vancouver, British Columbia and Tavares with four minutes and 32 seconds left in the third period, and then tied the game from William Nylander with one minute and seven seconds left.