Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews (34) skates with the puck against the New York Islanders during second period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Monday, February 5, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank GunnFrank Gunn/The Canadian Press
On Saturday night the Maple Leafs’ mascot – or somebody in his stead – posted a picture on social media of him standing beside the playing surface at Scotiabank Arena.
In front of Carlton the Bear was a table, upon which numerous hats were stacked. A sign advertised the blue-and-white bruin’s new business endeavour: Carlton’s Cap Shack. He was offering them for $5 each.
The chapeaus had been chucked onto the ice to celebrate another three-goal night from Auston Matthews. It was the sixth hat trick of the campaign and second in a row for Toronto’s star centre and the second time he has scored three in back-to-back games this season. He has now netted an NHL-leading 48 and is on a pace for 75.
“I can’t even do that in video games,” said Ryan Reaves, the big Maple Leafs forward.
Yes, things are getting a bit crazy now.
On Thursday, after Matthews scored his three in a victory over Philadelphia, a teenager snatched a cap off the head of a much older gent seated in front of him and let it fly. The act was not well received by the victim. The perpetrator, of course, immediately posted a video of it on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Perhaps Carlton will dig into his collection and return one.
Matthews is the first player in the league with back-to-back hat tricks on multiple occasions since Wayne Gretzky in 1983-84. And the half-dozen hat tricks are the most in a season since Mario Lemieux’s in 1995-96.
“It is hard to put into words what it means to be mentioned at the same time as him,” Matthews said of Lemieux.
The three on Saturday came in a 9-2 rout over Anaheim. It is hard to describe exactly how inept the Ducks were, but they look as though they could still make a run to the bottom of the pack and qualify for this summer’s No. 1 draft pick.
The Maple Leafs took command early on and led 8-1 after two periods. The score could have been even more lopsided had coach Sheldon Keefe not had mercy on the opponent. Matthews had three goals and a career-high five points in just 14 minutes 52 seconds of ice time. On average he logs six minutes more than that.
Six players scored for Toronto, with Bobby McMann getting two and Tyler Bertuzzi, William Nylander, Nicholas Robertson and Jake McCabe one each.
Bertuzzi had not had a goal since Dec. 27, 2023. That is a span of 20 games.
Inside the arena fans chanted “MVP” and bathed Matthews in cheers. Two months still remain in the regular season, but who would wager against that?
“He makes it look easy,” McMann said. “It’s fun. We are looking around like, ‘What he is doing is ridiculous.’ It just seems like every time the puck is on his stick it goes in the net.”
Toronto practised on Sunday and flew to St. Louis, where the team begins a four-game trip on Monday afternoon. It also plays at Arizona on Wednesday, Las Vegas on Thursday and Colorado on Saturday.
The win over Anaheim allowed the team to leapfrog over Tampa Bay into third place in the Atlantic Division, but this could be a challenging week.
At this point Matthews is 76 goals behind Mats Sundin for the franchise record – and has played in 449 fewer games than Sundin. He has 32 goals over the past 31 games and still has 29 to play.
“It is insane,” Nylander said. “Who is the second-best guy in the league right now? I don’t even know. That’s what he does.”