Welcome to the NHL, Auston Matthews.
In his first regular-season game since the Toronto Maple Leafs selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NHL draft, the 19-year-old American phenom netted four goals in his team's 5-4 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night.
According to ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun, Matthews became the first player in NHL history to score four goals in the first game of his career.
Matthews' four tallies immediately thrust him into elite goal-scoring territory, per ESPN Stats & Info:
To put that accomplishment into perspective, the Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN Stats & Info) noted the only other players to record hat tricks in their NHL debuts were Real Cloutier, Fabian Brunnstrom and Derek Stepan.
The California native got the party started eight minutes into the first period, and that was just the beginning of what evolved into an epic opening statement:
With less than six minutes remaining in the opening frame, he took control of the puck in the neutral zone and coasted toward the goal before netting his sec ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Alec Nathan
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October 12th, 2016 by Alec Nathan Leave a reply »
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