Like he's done all season, Matthews helped flip an awful start of game in his team's favour.
Like he's done all season, Matthews helped flip an awful start of game in his team's favour.
It's gotten to the point where the Toronto Maple Leafs have run out of things to say about Auston Matthews.
The star forward recorded his fifth hat trick this season and scored his NHL-leading 43rd, 44th and 45th goals of the season to help his team down the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in overtime on Thursday.
But after 20 minutes, it looked like it was going to be one of those games.
The Flyers pushed the pace of play in the first period. The Leafs looked tired, some of that could be excused as William Nylander, Mitch Marner and John Tavares were recovering from the flu, but they were making mistakes.
Mistakes that led to goals allowed.
The Leafs surrendered the opening goal of the game when Max Domi turned the puck over the neutral zone while on a power play. That led to a couple of scoring opportunities for Philadelphia, capped off by Travis Sanheim's tally at 7:42.
And that was just the 5-on-4 for Toronto. At 5-on-5, Philly had 71 percent of the expected goals and 70 percent of the high-danger scoring chances, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
It wasn't until the second period that saw Matthews breathe some life into what was a rather quiet Scotiabank Arena.
Mitch Marner picked up the primary assist on Matthews' first two goals that tied and then helped the Leafs take a lead.
Matthews then completed the hat trick, his fifth of the season, completing the natural hat trick in 7:49.
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe has run out of positive things to say about his best player. Outside of just scoring the goals, Keefe was called Matthews the "catalyst".
"The way he competed and won loose pucks, I thought he was a beast for us in that second period," Keefe said. "Just kind of get us going and sort of set the example of what was required."
It wasn't all well and good. Mistakes in the third period allowed Philly to tie things up.
Garnet Hathaway ended a 20-game goalless drought cutting Toronto's lead to 3-2 with 5:46 to go in regulation time. Twenty-five seconds later, Tyler Bertuzzi took a tripping penalty and never got back into the game after that. Travis Konecny scored on the ensuing power-play to tie the game 3-3 and force overtime.
Nylander won the game in overtime, but it's another game in which the Leafs were unable to close things out. A narrative that has dominated Toronto's season.
But when you have Matthews having a career year, it certainly helps.
Matthews is on pace for 71 goals this season. If he gets to 70, he'd be the first player since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny to hit that milestone (1992-93), He set a brand new franchise record with his 72nd multi-goal game, breaking Darryl Sittler's record of 71. Matthews accomplished the feat in his 532nd game. Sittler played in 844 games with Toronto.
Matthews is truly exceptional and is proving himself to be another Hart Trophy candidate. Given the state of where the Leafs might be without him, there's a.case to be made.
The Leafs got the win. But if overtime went in Philly's favor, the narrative would revert back to what's been plaguing them all season long.
There's just too many mistakes.
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