The story of the offseason was superstar John Tavares leaving Long Island to join his hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. So far during the season, it has been another Leafs superstar that has stolen the show. Auston Matthews continued his stellar start to the 2018-19 season with a pair of assists in the Leafs 4-1 win over the Kings on Monday.
Not only does his two assists give him a league-leading 16 points on the season (he leads the league in goals with 10), he has now tallied at least two points in each of his first seven games. He is the fifth player in NHL history to accomplish this feat. He joins the likes of Mario Lemieux, Keven Stevens, Mike Bossy, and some guy named Wayne Gretzky. Not a bad group at all.
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The historic start for Matthews has translated to wins for the Maple Leafs. Their win on Monday their league-best sixth on the season. With only one loss to this point, the Leafs look like an early candidate for ‘Best Team in the League’ honors.
| Scor | Scor | Scor | Goal | Goal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Date | Opp | G | A | PTS | +/- | EV | PP | TOI | ||
| 1 | 2018-10-03 | MTL | W | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 17:29 | |
| 2 | 2018-10-06 | OTT | L | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 20:20 | |
| 3 | 2018-10-07 | @ | CHI | W | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 16:53 |
| 4 | 2018-10-09 | @ | DAL | W | 2 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 1 | 1 | 18:30 |
| 5 | 2018-10-11 | @ | DET | W | 2 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 0 | 2 | 19:35 |
| 6 | 2018-10-13 | @ | WSH | W | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 18:40 |
Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table
Matthews was the first overall pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and made an instant impact in his first year in Toronto. In his rookie season in 2016, Matthews netted 40 goals in 82 games. Last year, he played in just 62 games but still managed to light the lamp 34 times. Needless to say, a 50 goal season is not out of the questions. Especially considering his start to the year thus far.
The Leafs will look to extend their winning streak to six games when they host Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.
– Ian Glendon is the Editor-In-Chief of Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @iglen31 Follow @FPC_Patriots and Facebook.
