When Auston Matthews created history by scoring four goals in his debut game

Auston Matthews is a professional ice hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League. Matthews was born in California in 1997 and grew up in Arizona. Matthews won the Swiss Cup in 2016, just before being drafted first overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In October 2016, Auston Matthews became the first player in modern history to score four goals in their debut game. The match was against the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Center.

Matthews scored at 8:21 and 14:18 in the first period, 1:25 of the second period, and with 3 seconds remaining in the final period. To give Toronto a 1-0 lead, the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft scored his first goal against goalie Craig Anderson off a pass from forward Zach Hyman. Matthews' second goal came unassisted after stealing the puck from Senators captain Erik Karlsson, scoring to tie the game at 2-2.

Matthews' third goal came off a pass from Morgan Rielly, giving the team a 3-2 lead. Three goals came on his first three NHL shots.

The fourth goal came on a pass from William Nylander, giving Toronto a 4-3 lead. Kyle Turris' overtime goal gave Ottawa a 5-4 victory.

Auston Matthews was the first No. 1 pick since Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals (2004 NHL Draft) to score twice in his NHL debut, and only the third player in NHL history to score a hat trick in his season debut (Real Cloutier, Quebec Nordiques vs. Atlanta Thrashers, October 10th, 1979; Derek Stepan, New York Rangers vs. Buffalo Sabres, October 9th, 2010).

In his NHL debut in 1917, Joe Malone and Harry Hyland each scored five goals. The modern era of the NHL began with the 1943-44 season.

Auston Matthews best performances

Matthews was the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft. Matthews won the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player in the NHL in 2021-22, after finishing second in voting the previous season to Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers. He and Patrick Kane are the only Americans to have won the Hart Trophy, and he was the first Maple Leafs player to do so since Ted Kennedy in 1954-55. Matthews became the first Toronto player to win the Ted Lindsay Award as the NHL Players' Association's most outstanding player.

Auston Matthews became the first NHL player born in the United States to score 60 goals in a season, and the first since Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2011-12. When he helped Toronto defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 at Nationwide Arena on March 7th, 2022, he will join Darryl Sittler (1975-76, 1977-78, 1979-80, and 1980-81) as the second Maple Leafs player to have four 40-goal seasons. On April 8th, 2022, he set a Maple Leafs record by scoring his 55th goal of the season against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center in Dallas, passing Rick Vaive (54 for Toronto in 1981-82).

With a goal and an assist in a 6-5 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues on Jan. 3rd, 2023, Auston Matthews became the fourth-youngest active player (25 years, 108 days) to reach 500 NHL points. Only Sidney Crosby (22 years, 244 days), Connor McDavid (24 years, 35 days), and Alex Ovechkin (24 years, 140 days) were older. Matthews passed Mats Sundin and Rick Vaive (495 games) for the fastest to 500 points with the Maple Leafs in his 445th game (278 goals, 223 assists).