The future of the Toronto Maple Leafs has arrived ahead of schedule.
Auston Matthews, the No1 overall pick of the NHL draft, scored four goals on his first four shots less than 40 minutes into his debut on Wednesday night in Ottawa.
The 19-year-old from Scottsdale, Arizona, opened his NHL account on his third ever shift by depositing a pass from Zach Hyman into the net at the 8:21 mark of the opening period.
He added a second goal six minutes later when he stole the puck from Erik Karlsson before slipping it past the goaltender.
Matthews then completed the hat trick less than two minutes into the second period with a one-timer off a Morgan Rielly feed. That made him the first No1 draft pick in NHL history to score three goals in his first game and only the fifth overall since the 1943-44 season. The most recent had been the New York Rangers’ Derek Stepan in October 2010.
But that was just for starters.
With three seconds left in the second period, Matthews found the net once more after a give-and-go with William Nylander to become the first player in the league’s 100-year history to score four goals in his debut.
The teenager has been lauded as a potential savior for a team that has won 13 Stanley Cup championships but none in the past 48 years, which represents the longest active drought in the NHL for both titles and appearances in the final.
While the CBC notes that both Joe Malone of the Montreal Canadiens and Harry Hyland of the Montreal Wanderers scored five goals in their first game in the newly formed NHL on 19 December 1917, both players had previously played in the National Hockey Association.
If only Matthews could play goalie, too: the Maple Leafs lost 5-4 in overtime despite the rookie’s heroic effort after Ottawa’s Kyle Turris beat Frederik Andersen from the top of the circle.
