Auston Matthews scored his first of the year for the Maple Leafs vs. the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night and opened up about getting the monkey off his back.
While the Toronto Maple Leafs have enjoyed early season success through the first three games of the season, it has been up to the supporting cast of players to get the scoring going and strangely enough, found superstar and league's best goal-scorer Auston Matthews not only without a goal but without a point. It's not for a lack of effort and while Matthews has beaten the goaltenders, he hasn't been beating the posts.
So coming into Toronto's game Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Kings, there had to be some extra motivation for Matthews to get things going. Well, it didn't take long for Matthews to get the first of the season, potting a blazing wrist shot past Kings goaltender David Rittich after fanning on the first attempt:
Auston Matthews' Domino Effect
It was a huge relief for Maple Leafs fans as they started to worry that Matthews might have a down year which would be a massive hit to Toronto's Stanley Cup hopes and even regular-season success as well. Even Sidney Crosby noticed how much pressure Matthews was under and tried to pass on some wisdom. It's a relief for Matthews as well, who can finally rest easy knowing he scored the first of what is hopefully a bundle of goals to come.
'It's good to see one fall and it's a little bit of a weight lifted off your shoulders.' Matthews said post-game.
Typically downplaying the situation, Matthews' goal-scoring drought was more than a little weight lifted off, as once Matthews gets going, the rest of his team does as well. This was apparent in Wednesday's game where Matthews had a goal and two assists, Mitch Marner had three helpers, and while Matthew Knies didn't register a point, William Nylander, John Tavares, Bobby McMann, and Morgan Rielly took over. Oh, and Max Domi continued his tear of playmaking dominance with two more assists.
Once Toronto gets their captain and the league's top goal-scorer back in top form, the rest of the team is sure to follow their newly appointed leader, and that is going to spell immense danger for any goalies who happen to face the Four-Headed Dragon of a motivated Matthews, Marner, Nylander, and Tavares.
