WATCH: Auston Matthews scores 300th NHL goal while RECORDING hattrick in 6-5 thriller shootout win against Canadiens

Auston Matthews turned the hero for the Maple Leafs as he scored a hat-trick to help them win 6-5 against the Canadiens.

WATCH: Auston Matthews scores 300th NHL goal while RECORDING hattrick in 6-5 thriller shootout win against Canadiens

Auston Matthews celebrating with William Nylander (Pic Credit: AP News)

The thriller time in the NHL is back. In a high-scoring game back-and-forth game, the Toronto Maple Leafs opened their season with a 6-5 shootout victory against the Montreal Canadiens. The headlines from this game were stolen by Auston Matthews who scored a hat trick in the game. In this process, he also ended up scoring his 300th NHL goal.

Matthews finished last season at 299 goals and needed one more to complete the milestone. After their elimination at the hands of the Florida Panthers, Matthews along with his team was heavily criticized. The backlash of fans grew even more when he agreed on a long-term mega deal to stay with the team. This hattrick has surely silenced some of his critics.

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His 300th NHL goal came in the second period and leveled the game at 2-2. However, the defense of both sides kept leaking goals. The hosts soon found themselves 5-3 down in the third regulation period. Matthews though would not go down this easily. He pulled two goals back late in the game to bring his side back on level terms.

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This turned out to be his eighth career hat trick. The game then headed into a shootout as both sides were inseparable after overtime. Mitch Marner scored the only goal in the shootout to hand his team a thrilling win on the season opener.

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Auston Matthews hails Maple Leafs 6-5 win as rollercoaster of a game

While a close tight game is obviously nervous to watch as no one knows what to expect from it, these high-scoring games could become fun to watch. The term “roller coaster of a game” has often been used when describing such games. Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews had hailed this game as a rollercoaster as well.

Auston Matthews
Auston Matthews (Pic Credit: Imago)

The Maple Leafs found themselves 2-0 down and then 5-3 down but came out on top when it mattered the most. The game kept on swinging in both team’s favor. “It was a bit of a roller coaster. I think it’s obviously nice to get the win and there’s a lot of things we can definitely clean up,” he said after the game.

One negative thing that comes out of this type of high-scoring match is the defense. While Jake Allen (Canadiens) and Ilya Samsonov (Maple Leafs) made 37 and 19 saves respectively as goalies, they would have hoped to keep the scoreline a bit lower. These players would be hoping their defense can help them out a little bit more going forward and concede fewer goals.

The Leafs are now in action on Saturday as they take on the Minnesota Wild. Meanwhile, the Canadiens would be aiming to kick-start their campaign with a win against the Chicago Blackhawks on the same day.

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