Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs humbles himself in interviews, even though he scores goals for his team. A total of 12 matches were played at night. Carolina’s Finns succeeded in scoring again.
American forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs Austin Matthews has started the season hard. Matthews has scored two hat tricks in two matches, or a total of six goals.
In the night’s match, Toronto beat the Minnesota Wild 7–4. In the opening round, thanks to Matthews’ goals, Toronto stretched to the winning shootout, where they knocked off the Montreal Canadiens. The forward, often described as humble, shifted the spotlight to his team after the Minnesota victory.
– I think the team has been hardworking in both matches. We make sure we take care of each other on the defensive end and just try to attack hard. Obviously the puck just went in, which is always fun and always positive, Matthews rated on the NHL website.
Matthews is the Fifth player in NHL history to have consecutive hat tricks in his first two games of the season. In the past, they have succeeded in the same performance Alexander Ovechkin (in the 2017–18 season), Cy Denneny (1917–18), Joe Malone (1917–18) and Reg Noble (1917–18). It is worth noting that the trick was succeeded three times over a hundred years ago in the NHL’s first season in 1917–18.
Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe describes Matthews as a motivated, hardworking and committed player. According to him, consecutive hat tricks are not something you can expect overnight.
– But I’m somehow used to the fact that Auston has big nights and has a big impact on the game. But when you do that (hat trick) twice in a row at the beginning of the season, it’s great, Keefe says on the NHL’s website.
Aho, Kotkaniemi and Teräväinen succeeded again
Carolina Hurricanes’ Finnish forwards Sebastian Ahon, Teuvo Teräväinen and Jesperi Kotkaniemi the season has started brilliantly. Everyone collected power points in the opening round and the same trend continued in the second match.
Aho managed to score his opening goal of the season in the match against the Los Angeles Kings. Kings Swiss player Kevin Fiala came up from his own defensive zone to the central zone and tried to pass to the wing. However, Fiala would miss the puck and embarrassingly lost the game tool.
Aho caught the puck and skated through. A few clever moves of the puck were enough to open up the Kings goalie by Pheonix Copley branches from which the puck slipped into the goal. Aho scored Carolina’s 2–0 lead in the first period, when the team played underpowered.
Aho also scored against Carolina, and before that the Hartford Whalers, club history. He has scored the most underpowered goals, 17, at the club. He missed with his hit By Eric Staal.
You can see Aho’s goal in the video above.
Kotkaniemi also scored the opening goal of the season in the first period. He would slide over the blue line of the offensive zone and drive the puck towards the goalkeeper’s area. The game tool slipped into the Kings’ goal again from between Copley’s legs and Carolina took a 3–0 lead.
The Kings were able to reduce the situation, but in the second period, Carolina took a three-goal lead again, when Teräväinen completed his team’s 5–2 lead. Carolina played underpowered again, when Kotkaniemi got suspended for playing with a high stick.
The Kings tried to break into the offensive zone, but the puck was knocked over by Pierre-Luc Dubois off the stage. Lätty came to Aho, who got into a two-on-one attack with Teräväinen. Aho passed to Teräväinen, who shot the puck handsomely into the goal. The hit was Teräväinen’s second of the season.
In the end, the match progressed to a shootout in a 5-5 situation. Carolina won in the ninth par Jordan Martin too on the finish line. Teräväinen missed as Carolina’s second shooter, while Aho got the puck into the goal when he was in the third.
Finns with power points
Other Finns also reached the power points in the night round. In the match that started on Saturday night, the NHL’s “Finnish club” Florida Panthers lost to the Winnipeg Jets with a score of 4-6.
Florida Captain Alexander Barkov again played huge minutes as he was on the court for nearly 23 minutes. Barkov registered two assist points in the match. Florida’s other Finnish players were also seen on the ice, ie Eetu Luostarinen, Niko Mikkola and Anton Lundell. However, they were left without power points. Playing in Winnipeg Rasmus Kupari scored his team’s 3–2 lead in the second period.
In the meeting between Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers, he got an assist Patrick Laine. Columbus lost to Rangers with 3–5 goals. Representing Rangers Kaapo Kako played ineffectively for almost 15 minutes.
The match between the San Jose Sharks and the Colorado Avalanche ended in a 1-1 shootout. Columbus scored the deciding goal Mikko Rantanenwho was the only winner in the rank race.
Update 15/10/2023 at 8:38: The final result of the Kings–Carolina match has been updated.
Update October 15, 2023 at 9:50 a.m.: Information about Aho’s history of the club has been added to the story.