Auston Matthews nets 200th NHL goal to open scoring in Carolina

@Auston Matthews is finally on the board.

The 24-year-old centre scored his first goal of the 2021–22 season — and the 200th of his National Hockey League career — in Monday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Matthews entered Monday’s game with zero points in his first three contests of 2021–22. @Michael Bunting picked up the lone assist on the goal, which gave the Leafs a 1-0 lead at the 3:25 mark of the first period.

With former Toronto teammate @Frederik Andersen between the pipes for the Hurricanes, Matthews picked up the puck at the Carolina goal line and carried the puck behind the net before tucking it past the goaltender on a wrap-around move.

Here’s the video of the goal, as posted by the official Toronto Maple Leafs Twitter account:

Matthews is the 14th player to score 200 goals in a Maple Leafs sweater. He took just 338 games to accomplish the feat, becoming the second-fastest player to do so for Toronto (Charlie Conacher scored 200 goals in 317 games with the Leafs).

The Maple Leafs currently lead the Hurricanes by a 1-0 score during the first period.