Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews scores on Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price during overtime NHL hockey action in Montreal, Saturday, October 14, 2017Graham Hughes
It's the sort of sequence kids try in their driveway, not on Saturday night in the NHL: pass to yourself, flip it over an onrushing player, chase the puck down, knock it out of the air, sizzle an unstoppable wrist shot top cheese.
But this is Auston Matthews' world, not yours. And besides, when the Toronto Maple Leafs meet the Montreal Canadiens on national television the usual rules don't apply.
The Leafs' phenom made the dubiously possible seem routine 8:16 into the first period, scoring a dazzling goal that saw him grab the puck in his own end, chip it over Charles Hudon to centre ice, knock Jordie Benn's clearing attempt out of the air, and proceed to rip one of the most gorgeous wrist shots of this or any era past Habs goaltender Carey Price's glove.
That the goal wasn't a decisive marker – the game was tied 1-1 at the time – dulls the shine on it somewhat.
Happily the 20-year-old took care of that in overtime by snapping home his second of the evening and fifth of the season on a beautiful pass by William Nylander to give the Leafs a 4-3 win.
Make it 18 goals in his last 24 games (including playoffs) for the Arizonan, whose legend keeps growing.
Habs defenceman Karl Alzner, who played alongside a shooter of some repute with the Washington Capitals (that would be Alex Ovechkin) and knows whereof he speaks, said afterward "the Matthews shot, it's a pretty nice shot. You have to tip your hat to him, he knocks the puck out of the air, in full stride, and makes a good play."
The star of the night himself admitted after the game that there was some luck involved.
"(Goaltender) Freddie (Andersen) made a really good pass to me and I kind of saw some space, they do a pretty good job of taking away that time and space so I just tried to chip the puck up in front of me and caught a fortunate bounce a couple of times and was able to score," Matthews said.
And on his overtime winner Matthews once again credited Andersen and his youthful linemate Nylander.
"I'm so used to it by now, he's so good at playing those seams and making those types of passes, myself I just try to make sure I'm ready because I know the puck is coming," he said.
So a good showing from the kids at a crucial time, and the Leafs are back in the win column after a dismal midweek loss to New Jersey.
Leafs Head Coach Mike Babcock said afterward that "I didn't think we were outstanding by any means."
"But," he added, "we found a way to win."
Indeed, Toronto was heavily out-shot and out-chanced by an increasingly desperate Montreal team, which heads out on a Western road swing with just three points to show from its first five games.
Their effort was not enough to forestall a defeat at the hands of their old rival, their first since Jan. 18, 2014, a span of 14 games.
The Canadiens carried the play early and opened the scoring just over two minutes into the game, defenceman Jeff Petry leaning into a point shot from Jonathan Drouin's deft set-up and the puck zipping past a screened Andersen.
The Leafs have had no trouble scoring goals this season but generated surprisingly little in the way of scoring chances until James Van Riemsdyk snuck in behind Petry and the Montreal blue line and set sail for Price's net on a two-on-one with Mitch Marner.
The Team Canada goaltender managed to smother Marner's shot with his arm but looked for it behind him, not for the last time on the evening – the consensus choice as the NHL's top goaltender is off to a decidedly un-Price-like start, after five games his save percentage is a wretched .885.
Drouin won the ensuing faceoff cleanly but the puck bounced off Petry to Van Riemsdyk, whose squibber slid past Price.
The Habs star goalie was not pleased at the result, firing the puck into the end boards.
Toronto took the lead just 44 seconds later when Matthews' genius was given free reign and Price appeared to lose his footing – after the goal he stomped his right skate into the ice, as if to remind himself how to find purchase with the blade.
"I didn't see him slip, honestly," said Matthews. "The defence was right there in front of me so I just tried to shoot it, use a screen to shoot it, I looked around and I think he caught an edge or something. So kind of a fortunate bounce for us. A hundred times out of a hundred times that shot's probably not going in."
Montreal came back to tie the game before the end of the period when the much-maligned Alex Galchenyuk fired a power-play wrist shot past Andersen that was the equal of Matthews' trademark release (rookie Leafs defenceman Andreas Borgman looked every bit the first-year player on the sequence, over-committing at the defensive blue line).
The teams traded goals in the second period, Drouin's peach of a tip for his first home-ice goal had the Bell Centre crowd in Montreal buzzing. Not before long it was the sizable Toronto fan contingent's turn to roar when a replay confirmed Patrick Marleau had snuck a shot past beyond an out-of-position Price.
The third period was cagier, although the Habs shot the puck from everywhere – with five minutes left in regulation the count was 13-2 – and Toronto pushed for a winner late.
In October it's never a bad thing for a team to chalk up an overtime point; the Habs had an early chance to win the extra point but Andersen kicked out a Tomas Plekanec shot and sent the Leafs and Matthews the other way for the winner.