Matthews tied the franchise record with 15 shots on goal while scoring twice in a 5-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Auston Matthews is back.

And while you could have said that about the Toronto Maple Leafs star forward over the course of the last few games, he solidified that with a two-goal effort and a franchise record-tying 15 shots on goal in a 5-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.

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"It's positive, I want to get shots on net and get the puck and have those scoring chances as much as possible," Matthews said after the game. "We had some really good sequences where we were able to attack and create some good chances."

Matthews tied Dave Andreychuk's Maple Leafs record for shots on goal in a game originally set on Mar. 23, 1993 and became just the seventh player in NHL history to have 15 shots on goal in a game. 

The Maple Leafs dug themselves an early hole on Saturday when Jake McCabe and Noel Acciari were assessed penalties within the first 1:29 of the game. The Hurricanes opened the scoring on the ensuing 5-on-3 and were up 2-0 when they were outshooting the Leafs 16-6 with 8:25 to go in the first period.

After a TV timeout, Carolina registered one shot and Toronto took over for the next 15:44, recording 17 consecutive shots on goal, with many of them coming from Matthews, whose previous high in a game last season was 12 back on April 7, 2022. On that night, Matthews scored his 55th goal of the season to pass Rick Vaive for the franchise record.

It was that season in which Matthews won his first Hart Trophy. At PNC Arena on Saturday, Matthews was in that form again.

"He's right back to being one of the most dominant players in the league," Keefe said of Matthews. "Physically dominant, hard on the puck. Winning battles. Making Plays. In good spots. He's been terrific."

In addition to erasing 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, they were unable to come back from Sebastian Aho's game-winner with 2:26 to go in the third period. Carolina's fourth foal game just 22 seconds after Matthews scored his second of the night.

Matthews helped cap the first comeback while scoring his first goal in the second period that tied the game 2-2.

Despite coming up short in the results, Keefe didn't have much in terms of criticism for how his team played against one of the best defensive teams in the league.

"I thought in a lot of ways it may have been our best game of the season," he said.

He did feel that his goaltender, Matt Murray needed a save or two in the third period.

Since revealing that he's turned the corner from a hand injury earlier this month, Matthews has been a force while on the ice. It’s the first time this season that the 25-year-old has posted back-to-back multiple-goal games. It wasn’t just the quality of Matthews’ shots on Saturday, but the quality as he was in the slot for many scoring chances.

In all situations, Matthews posted an expected-goals rating of 4.71 per NaturalStatTrick.com.

Some penalty trouble and some late miscues cost Toronto some points in the standings. But the game left no doubt that Auston Matthews is back. 

And with the playoffs around the corner, it's about time.

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