He shocked everyone else too, likely himself even, but he scored the game winner in Germany's 3-2 regulation win over the USA at the World Championships.
Team USA and Auston Matthews were in tough against a German team that had added New York Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss, but lost Arizona Coyotes forward Tobias Rieder to injury. They knew they could outplay the Germans, but could they outscore them?
German's rookie coach Marco Sturm used his home team advantage to keep the NHL defence pair of Christian Ehrhoff (Chicago Blackhawks) and Korbinian Holzer (Anaheim Ducks) out against Auston Matthews as much as possible.