Matthews picked up his NHL-leading 35th, 36th and 37th goals of the season.
Matthews picked up his NHL-leading 35th, 36th and 37th goals of the season.
CALGARY — In the opening 20 minutes of their game against the Calgary Flames, the Toronto Maple Leafs looked every bit like a team that was fighting out of a four-game losing streak.
Then a lucky bounce went their way.
Late in the first period, a broken play in the offensive zone fell onto Auston Matthews' stick, and the Maple Leafs' superstar made no mistake with a wrist shot that beat Dan Valdar at 18:24.
That was enough to give the Leafs some confidence going into the first period, despite Calgary holding 75 percent of the expected goals share at 5-on-5.
"Just to cut it to one before the second and get everyone in the locker room and regroup, just take a deep breath to get out there and play and that’s exactly what we did," Matthews said following a 4-3 win at Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday.
In the second period, he continued to work.
Matthews finished off a one-timer early in the second period to tie the game for his 36th of the season.
After picking up the secondary assist on Mitch Marner's power-play goal that gave Toronto a lead, Matthews picked up his fourth hat trick of the season with a backhand shot in front of Calgary's net.
"Getting him going is huge and he just keeps putting it in the net. It builds confidence in the group," William Nylander said of Matthews' big night.
The Maple Leafs went into Calgary on a four-game losing streak and had dropped three consecutive games in regulation time. A lack of offense had been one of the factors cited by Keefe as a reason for late-game collapses that resulted in leads lost.
But down 2-0, Matthews put the game on his back and ensured a positive outcome, while snapping Calgary's four-game winning streak.
"Honestly, you just kind of get used to it," Maple Leafs defenseman TJ Brodie said of Matthews. "The way he can just score is just incredible. It’s fun to watch.
Matthews leads the NHL with 37 goals this season and he has played 42 games. The NHL hasn't had a player reach the 50-in-50 mark since Brett Hull did it in 1992. The mark, which reflects a player scoring 50 goals in a team's first 50 games, seemed out of reach in this era of hockey. With seven games remaining (not eight because Matthews missed one game due to illness), the Scottsdale, Arizona native needs 13 goals to hit the mark.
It's not impossible. And certainly, it is a lot of fun to watch.
"It’s pretty impressive," Maple Leafs goaltender Martin Jones said of Matthews. "It always feels like when we’re down two in the first we’re never really out of a game because we’ve got some weapons that can dig us out of those holes."
And when Matthews is going, it seems to help the Maple Leafs out of any problems.
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