The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 on Monday night.
Normally, the Toronto Maple Leafs defeating the back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions and division rivals would be the big story of the night, just not tonight.
Auston Matthews, the odds-on favorite to win the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, scored a hattrick on route to his 54th goal of the season, which ties the Leafs single season goal scoring record with Rick Vaive, who also did it in 1981-82.
Incredibly, the hattrick goal gave Matthews 47 goals in his last 47 games, a goal scoring pace not seen since the likes of Mario Lemieux roamed the earth.