"Anyway, back to Thursday night's game and what Matthews did. On paper, he scored a hat trick and added an assist to give him his first hat trick of the season and his first real burst of life in 2025-26. He entered the game with 15 goals and 27 points in 33 games, which aren't bad totals but well below the standard he's set for himself."
"Matthews' goals featured some variety, with a deflection for the first one, a last-second wrister to close out the second period, and a deke around Eric Comrie following a puck recovery by Easton Cowan for the third. Matthews is scoring goals of all types when he's at his best, and he looked closer to the 69-goal version of himself in this game than he did all of 2024-25."
"Whenever the Leafs and Jets play, there's a decent chance it will be a barn burner. The two teams have been softly linked ever since the Matthews/Patrik Laine draft, and while that's about as far in the rearview mirror as you can get, they formed a bit of a rivalry when they shared a division in the one-off North Division season in 2020-21 and since then, you can find more entertaining games between the two teams than not."
Auston Matthews entered the 2025-26 season under heavy scrutiny and produced a hat trick and an assist on New Years Day against the Winnipeg Jets. He came into the game with 15 goals and 27 points in 33 games and left with 18 goals and 31 points in 34 games. His goals included a deflection, a last-second second-period wrister, and a deke after a puck recovery by Easton Cowan. The Maple Leafs recovered after an early four-goal start allowed by Woll, who was pulled for Dennis Hildeby. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Matias Maccelli, and Troy Stecher also scored, and Matthews gained confidence that could be a building block for the team.
Read at TheLeafsNation
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