No. 2 pick Patrik Laine netted a hat trick in his first game vs. No. 1 pick Auston Matthews

You honestly couldn’t have scripted it better than this. A meeting between Auston Matthews, the 2016 first overall draft pick, and Patrik Laine, his runner-up, could really have only ended the way it did on Wednesday.

For starters, let’s put you in the right frame of mind. With the Jets down 4-1 to the Maple Leafs in the third period, Laine netted a pair of goals to help get Winnipeg into overtime with Toronto and steal a point.

But that wasn’t enough. In the end, the game came down to Matthews against Laine — literally. The No. 2 overall pick came out on top on a breakaway just seconds after Matthews was denied at the other end of the ice.

There’s such a sense of poetry in the way this all unfolded. Unlike the first meeting between Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel last year, the runner-up got his day in the sun when all was said and done. If this is how games are going to play out between Matthews and Laine, I am excited for the next decade of hockey between these two teams.