On Wednesday, the Toronto Maple Leafs will play their ninth season opener with Auston Matthews as a member of their team. Over that time Matthews has missed just one season opener due to injury with the remaining eight being big games for the Maple Leafs’ star player.
Over that span, including the season opener in which he missed, Matthews was held pointless in just two of those eight games. Only once did he have just one point, while the remaining games all came with multi-point efforts from the new captain of the team.
With that — and with the Maple Leafs set to kick of the first season with Matthews donning the ‘C’ — here’s a look back at eight season openers with Matthews as a Maple Leaf.
2016: Matthews’ Four-Goal Debut
His first season opener came against the Ottawa Senators on the road. For the Maple Leafs and Matthews, it was a highly anticipated debut and he didn’t disappoint.
Matthews scored just 8:21 into the first period, tallying his first career NHL goal and it didn’t stop there. He went on to score three more before the end of the second period, giving him his first career NHL hat trick and first four-goal game of his career.
The Maple Leafs went on to lose the game to the Senators 5-4, kicking off their season 0-0-1, while Matthews finished with four goals — all even strength — on six shots.
2017: Matthews Jets to Another Three-Point Performance
His second season started off similar to his rookie year. While it wasn’t a four-goal debut, Matthews did finish with three points against the Winnipeg Jets in the 2017 season opener.
The Maple Leafs stormed through Winnipeg with a 7-2 win and they saw their star player score his first of the season and adding two assists on top of that. He finished with just one shot and the goal came at even strength — a small indication of what was to come over his career.
2018: Matthews Dominates Another Opening Night
To open the 2018-19 season, it was the first time that Matthews had the chance to play in front of the home crowd on opening night. Once again, the star forward didn’t disappoint for the home fans.
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It was a close affair, with the Maple Leafs grabbing the 3-2 victory over their rival Montreal Canadiens. As such, Matthews contributed to the win with two goals, including the game-winner on just three shots to please the crowd.
Again, he tallied one at even strength and one on the powerplay as he was quickly becoming the offensive leader the Maple Leafs needed.
2019: Wracking Up More Goals Against the Senators
His fourth season opener was much like the previous three. The Maple Leafs put together another win, taking a 5-3 victory in Toronto on home ice against the Senators, while Matthews was able to get himself on the board.
Matthews scored two goals in the second period, including one at 14:50 which ended up as the game-winner — the second season-opening game-winner of his career.
He finished the game with two goals on eight shots — one on the powerplay and one at even strength to continue his point streak in season openers just four seasons into his career.
2020: Matthews’ Point Streak Continues Against Canadiens
It wasn’t his best performance in a season-opening win, but Matthews continued to produce offensively to open up the 2020-21 season in a 5-4 victory over the Canadiens. He tallied one assist on seven shots and while he didn’t score, the team did win.
2021: First Opening Night Matthews Missed
No one forgets the season that Matthews kicked off the year injured. It was the wrist injury that seemed to affect him all season long and it’s the only time in his NHL career that he wasn’t on the ice for the Maple Leafs to start a season.
Matthews ended up missing a few games and started the year off cold offensively. That said, still in the Matthews era, the Maple Leafs did win the game 2-1.
2022: Matthews Pointless in Montreal
Back on the road to kick off the 2022-23 season, it’s the only time that Matthews has been held pointless — aside from the 2021-22 season when he was out with an injury — to open a season.
The Maple Leafs were in Montreal to take on the Canadiens and ended up losing the game 4-3 against their rival Habs. Matthews went without a point and it wasn’t from the lack of trying. He finished the game with five shots and nearly 20 minutes of ice-time — the Canadiens were just able to shut him down this time around.
2023: Matthews’ Records Another Opening Night Hat Trick
As for last season, Matthews kicked off his 69-goal season with a hat trick at home against those same Canadiens. The Maple Leafs won the game 6-5 in a shootout in a high-scoring affair with Matthews scoring once in the second period on the powerplay and twice more in the third to come within one and then tie the game with just over a minute left in the game.
It was his first of two straight games with a hat trick and he finished the game with three goals — two of which were even strength — and plus-two rating and eight shots.
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Overall, the Maple Leafs have won six of eight season openers since Matthews came into the league in 2016. As for Matthews himself, he has 12 goals and 15 points, along with two game-winning goals on 38 shots in just seven season openers.
If Matthews can keep up that pace to open the 2024-25 season against the Canadiens in what should be a heated affair, then expect Matthews to show up offensively under his new head coach Craig Berube and that could bode well for the Maple Leafs as a whole.