Auston Matthews’ overtime game-winner capped total domination of the Blackhawks

Auston Matthews flew into the offensive zone and ripped off a perfect shot past Anton Forsberg to cap the Maple Leafs’ 4-3 comeback win over the Blackhawks on Monday night. Before that, he spent the entire game terrorizing a team full of big names that spent the previous two games outscoring its opponents, 15-2.

Matthews, the reigning Calder Trophy winner, is going to have a lot of monster games. He’s in his second year, coming into his own as a premier scorer and surrounded by some of the best supporting talent in the game. The Leafs’ star center led the NHL in even-strength goals as a rookie, and that was only the beginning.

On Monday, Matthews didn’t just score the game-winner with a shot that few other players could emulate. That was the cherry on top of a performance so sweet it cannot be ignored.

The numbers put this all out plainly: When Matthews was on the ice for Toronto, the team held a 35-5 shot advantage, including 20-3 during 5-on-5 play, per Natural Stat Trick. That’s tied for his best single-game 5-on-5 possession statistics from his rookie season. It took him three games as a sophomore, and it happened against a team that previously ran roughshod over the Penguins and Blue Jackets.

For the majority of Matthews’ even-strength playing time, he was matched up against Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Kane, Ryan Hartman, and Artem Anisimov. During those seven-plus minutes, the Leafs held a 10-0 advantage in shots on goal. The Blackhawks, even with Keith and Kane on the ice, couldn’t even get the puck to the net, let alone create any meaningful scoring chances.

So when the 3-on-3 overtime started and the Maple Leafs came out looking like the faster, hungrier team, it wasn’t surprising. Those were generally the same players Matthews had skated circles around for the previous 60 minutes. Except now there was even more space to work with, which didn’t do the Blackhawks any favors, even though 3-on-3 OT is an area they’ve thrived in.

Once Matthews got the puck in a transition 2-on-1 with Chicago second-year defenseman Gustav Forsling as the last line of defense, the Hawks were in trouble.

The result wasn’t remotely surprising:

Yes, the Blackhawks didn’t have center Nick Schmaltz, who looks like one of their top players, and they were playing their backup goalie. But the Leafs held a 44-7 advantage in even-strength shot attempts after the end of the first period. This game was close until it wasn’t, and while Chicago led much of the contest, that was largely because of Forsberg hanging on for dear life. Eventually, it was too much for the 24-year-old netminder.

Matthews is up to two goals and three assists in three games so far this season for the unbeaten Maple Leafs. He put a team-high six shots on goal against the Blackhawks but didn’t score until the overtime snipe. It’s a good example of how his relentlessness in getting pucks to the net gets rewarded eventually.

It’s only three games into the season, so you don’t want to take too much away from a single game. The Blackhawks did beat the Penguins, 10-1, in their season opener, after all, so things can evolve quickly early in the NHL season. But like Connor McDavid a year ago, Matthews looks like he’s hitting another gear in his second year after being drafted No. 1 overall.

The Blackhawks couldn’t stop him. Will anyone else be able to?