The night before its season opener, the Wild had a team dinner in St. Louis. On the TVs above, the Blues-Blackhawks game was showing, but it seemed every other minute, the broadcast would break into the Maple Leafs-Senators game for an Auston Matthews update.
The Maple Leafs teenage phenom, who visits St. Paul to play the Wild on Thursday night, suddenly was all the flabbergasted Wild players could talk about.
"He scored one, and we're like, 'Awesome start.' And then he scores two, and we're like, 'Wow,' " Wild veteran Jason Pominville said, laughing. "And then they kept showing him score more goals. I mean, everyone was following it on their phone at this point and giving updates.
"Somebody's like, 'He scored again!' And then when he scored the fourth one, everybody was like, 'Oh my God! Unbelievable!' "
Last Wednesday in an overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators, Matthews, the first overall pick in this year's NHL draft, became the first player in the modern era (since 1943-44) to score four times in his debut.
The buzz was felt throughout the league.
Pittsburgh Penguins star defenseman Kris Letang (@Letang_58) tweeted, "Wow!!! @AM34 welcome to our beer league!!!". Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin (@tseguinofficial) tweeted, "I don't even know what to say. Just a treat to watch." Florida Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo (@strombone1) tweeted, "I've just decided that Reims [James Reimer] will play ALL of the games vs. the Leafs this year."
The grand NHL entrance from Matthews, a northern California-born, Scottsdale, Ariz.,-raised 19-year-old, led NBC's Today' Show. It opened SportsCenter. Not TSN's SportsCentre, ESPN's SportsCenter.
This type of attention never occurs in the NHL in October.
You want to know how special Matthews' night was? Even the jaw dropped on usually unemotional Maple Leafs General Manager Lou Lamoriello, who has seen it all. He turns 74 Friday.
"He had an exceptional night," Lamoriello said during a phone interview. "The second goal, I have never seen a play develop like that outside the zone, and with all the little things that transpired, and then to climax it? I mean, you sometimes see the moves, but you don't usually get the climax in the end, or you get the climax and you don't see some exceptional happenings before that."
This isn't hyperbole. Matthews' second goal looked like a video-game move, the way he dipsy-doodled through traffic, stole pucks, stickhandled by defenders and finally pickpocketed two-time Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson before cutting to the net.
Even Senators associate coach Marc Crawford was "shocked." Crawford coached Matthews last season in Zurich when Matthews led the ZSC Lions to the Swiss Cup with 24 goals and 46 points in 36 games.
"I've seen him have his great games, and he had that look about him once he got the first goal," Crawford said in a phone interview. "He is a little bit like a shark in a feeding frenzy. He smells blood. I don't know if he gets more revved up, but he just gets so much confidence and increased power.
"He could take over games in the Swiss League, but I didn't think he'd take over a game the way he did against us in his first NHL game. It was impressive to say the least."
Arizona's own
There have been other Arizona-born players, such as Philadelphia's Sean Couturier and Calgary's Matt Tkachuk. But Matthews is the first to really grow up in Arizona. He moved there as a baby. There was no hockey in his pedigree; he simply fell in love with the sport while watching the Coyotes.
"I think this will have a huge impact in the Arizona market," said the Wild's Jason Zucker, who like Matthews was born in California but moved to Las Vegas as a toddler. Zucker is considered the first Nevada-raised NHLer. "Like for me, there's nothing more I want than having a couple guys from Vegas make it."
Wild players are curious to get their first look at Matthews on Thursday. Goalie Devan Dubnyk, the one providing Matthews play-by-play at the Wild team dinner because of a group text he was on, said he'll take it like any other star player.
"He's a great player that you have to be aware of, and there are many of them on every single team," Dubnyk said.
Matthews — who two years ago with the U.S. Under-18 Team lit up Mariucci Arena with 10 shots and two goals against the Gophers, including the overtime winner — was humbled a bit in his second NHL game Saturday against Boston. He got off only two shots in almost 17 minutes of ice time, but his Leafs won 4-1.
On Wednesday in Winnipeg, Matthews got his first chance to go head-to-head with No. 2 overall pick Patrik Laine. In the Jets' come-from-behind 5-4 win after trailing 4-0, Laine scored the tying goal in the final minute of regulation and won it in overtime by completing a hat trick. Matthews, who had an assist, was stopped on a breakaway right before Laine's winner.
Laine, who had a goal and assist in his debut against Carolina, said he was impressed by Matthews' debut. But, the confident Finn said, "I don't care what he does. If he scores 20 goals, I don't have to score 21. I don't care. He's doing well. That's good for him. I just want to play my game and not think about other players."
Lamoriello cautions that Matthews has played only three games. "But," Lamoriello added, "I don't think anything can get in his way."
There was a ton of hype for Matthews in Toronto — even before his four-goal debut. Crawford said if anybody can handle the pressure in the Center of the Hockey Universe, "it's going to be Auston."
"His parents [Ema and Brian] keep him well-grounded. He's a very naturally humble person," Crawford said. "He scored a highlight goal for us in Switzerland last year. It was really a special goal. And on the play, a kid we just brought up for his first game [Jerome Bachofner] made a real good pass to him, but the whole play was Auston's goal. But he was more excited that the kid got a point. You can't fake that stuff.
"You watch the game against us [Ottawa], the most impressive thing, when he scored the fourth goal, he did not look like anybody else in the world who would have scored a fourth goal. He was really calm, he recognized the moment, he doesn't want to incite. He gets the temperature really well."
