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Maple Leafs’ Matthews returns from injury in style

Sharks Maple Leafs Hockey

Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) celebrates with teammates after teammate John Tavares (91) scored against San Jose Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell (30) during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018, in Toronto. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

AP

We all saw this coming, right?

I’m not the only one, surely.

The script was always going to read like this:

Auston Matthews returns. Auston Matthews sets up a goal. Auston Matthews scores a goal.

And that was all just in the first scene... err... period.

There’s no point in reminding everyone of the kind of talent Matthews possesses. There’s video for that sort of thing.

Here’s the assist on John Tavares’ first goal of the first frame. Tic-tac-goal, as the saying goes.

The pass was nice and all. Standard fare from Matthews.

Kind of like the goal he scored.

Snipe city on this one.

Matthews hasn’t skipped a single beat since going down with an injury on Oct. 27. A 14-game hiatus? Matthews laughs at the thought of rink rust.

Not that we should have expected any less.

UPDATE: Matthews scored a second goal for a three-point night.


Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck