via NHL.com
Auston Matthews scored his 10th goal of the season and became the second player in Toronto Maple Leafs history to score in each of their first six games in a 4-2 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Saturday.
Matthews, who leads the NHL in goals, is the 15th player in League history to score at least 10 goals in his team’s first six games. He is also the second player in Maple Leafs history to have multiple points in each of his first six games (Sweeney Shriner, 1944-45). Shriner also scored in each of Toronto’s first six games.
“It’s fine. It feels good to help contribute,” Matthews said. “The most important part is we’re winning games and this isn’t an easy road trip for us. To come out with the points that we came out with is huge.”
Morgan Rielly had an assist on Matthews’ goal, which came at 18:21 of the third period. Rielly’s six-game point streak (three goals, 10 assists) to start a season is the longest by a defenseman in Maple Leafs history.
Josh Leivo’s power-play goal at 6:28 of the third period gave the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead. Frederik Andersen made 25 saves for Toronto (5-1-0), which has won four in a row.
Evgeny Kuznetsov had a goal and an assist for Washington (2-2-1). Braden Holtby made 24 saves.
Total team effort leads Leafs to victory in Washington.
Take a look at the @OntarioLottery Game Winning Numbers from tonight's win.#LeafsForever #That649Feeling pic.twitter.com/NeOZohRWMT
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 14, 2018
Par Lindholm is bringing a souvenir home from tonight’s trip to Washington.
Congratulations on your first @NHL goal! #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/smBinNjOWY
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 14, 2018
Morgan Rielly (3-10—13) has earned at least one point in each of the @MapleLeafs' first six games of 2018-19. He established the longest season-opening point streak by a defenseman in franchise history. #NHLStats #TORvsWSH pic.twitter.com/TOgQoutBOH
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 14, 2018
Auston Matthews is the 15th player in NHL history to score at least 10 goals in his team’s first six games of the season - and just the 5th to do so in the modern era (since 1943-44). #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/FvtOdWvBpO
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 14, 2018
Matthews has earned at least one point in every regular-season appearance since Feb. 22.
He is the sixth player in @MapleLeafs franchise history to record a personal point streak of 16+ regular-season games (spanning seasons or otherwise). #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/UNayVmRP7H
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 14, 2018