Note: Auston Matthews ended up making history, even if he has a quiet finish. Check this post for even more on his special first night with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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Sometimes things work out too perfectly.
In his first NHL game, Auston Matthews scored his first NHL goal. The first pick of the 2016 NHL Draft also happened to score the first goal of the 2016-17 season, giving the Toronto Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead against the Ottawa Senators.
About the only first he failed to achieve was pulling a Mario Lemieux by scoring on his very first shift, something that inspired a joke or two on Twitter (before Matthews scored).
Not long before that, Mitch Marner nearly scored the first goal of the season instead, but Craig Anderson was game to the task.
Matthews went on to score two goals in both the first and second periods of this game, putting together a history-making debut.
Unfortunately for Matthews and the Maple Leafs, his history-making night only earned them a “charity point, as the Ottawa Senators won 5-4 in OT.