A new goal song and a milestone all in one night. Not a bad season opener for Auston Matthews, though he has had better.
The Maple Leafs star scored a second-period power-play goal against the Montreal Canadiens in Wednesday’s home opener to become the fastest player in franchise history to reach the 300-goal mark.
He is the 10th fastest to 300 in NHL history, and is the fifth player in Maple Leafs history to reach the milestone. Matthews now trails only Ron Ellis (332), Dave Keon (365), Darryl Sittler (389) and Mats Sundin (420) on Toronto’s all-time goal list.
The goal evened up the game at 2-2 before the Maple Leafs grabbed a 3-2 lead later in the period.
Matthews then scored two more goals in the third period to complete a hat trick as the Leafs rallied to tie the game.