Auston Matthews' milestone night tarnished by an unfortunate injury
Auston Matthews scored two goals as the Maple Leafs bested the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in overtime on Monday, and while it's not exactly headline news that Auston Matthews scores goals, the fact that he was forced to leave the game late is definitely noteworthy.
Matthews, the reigning Rocket Richard Trophy winner, is 3rd in goals in the NHL this season despite missing the first 3 games of the Leafs season after having wrist surgery in the summer. Monday's two-goal performance for Matthews was significant, and not just because he's trailing the league leading goalscorer *checks notes* Chris Kreider by just two goals.
Matthews' pair of tallies were his 30th and 31st goals of the season. 30 goals is always a milestone in the NHL and this time it means that Matthews has scored at least 30 goals in each of his 6 NHL seasons. This is despite missing many games throughout his career - whether it be the injury troubles he had early on or two shortened seasons due to the pandemic. That makes this milestone even more impressive for Matthews.. and he's the only Leaf to ever do it.
He is still a ways away from breaking Alex Ovechkin's record for most 30 goal seasons to begin a career with 15. That being said, there hasn't been a goal scorer of this caliber to enter the NHL since Ovechkin. Matthews keeps proving that he has the potential to go down as one of the best goal scorers in NHL history.
Unfortunately, Matthews exited tonight's game with an apparent head injury. Matthews was accidentally clipped in the head by a Hurricanes player after he fell to the ice. A scary injury, especially after what happened to John Tavares in the playoffs last season. Luckily, Matthews was able to leave the ice on his own power, though Sheldon Keefe said postgame that there is no update on Matthews' status.
Hopefully the Leafs' leading goal scorer is able to get healthy and does not miss much time. As seen with his ability to score 30 goals in his sleep, Matthews is the most important player on this Toronto Maple Leafs team.
