matthewsreaction.jpg
Auston Matthews made history in his NHL debut. USATSI

In the modern era of the NHL, no player had ever scored four goals in his first game in the league. That was until Auston Matthews set the modern-day record by scoring four in his NHL debut Wednesday night for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

If you missed them, the Maple Leafs put them all in this tidy little video for you:


The No. 1 pick of the 2016 NHL Draft stunned not just the hockey world, but the sports world as a whole. He was the No. 1 trending topic worldwide on Twitter, mostly because thousands of people probably tweeted "Auston Matthews scored how many goals? WHAT!?"

Among the many in disbelief were the players in the league Matthews just joined.

It's not often you'll see NHLers tweet about guys on an opposing team, much less compliment them (unless they're a former teammate), but NHL Twitter was afire with veteran players reacting in disbelief as this rookie made what they do look easy.


Here's a sampling of some of the NHLers that weighed in:

Even Columbus Blue Jackets rookie Zach Werenski, one of the NHL players that knows Matthews better than most as a former Team USA teammate, couldn't believe what he saw.

Meanwhile, Roberto Luongo has already decided that he'll leave the goaltending to backup James Reimer against the Florida Panthers' Atlantic Division foe.

Arizona Coyotes co-owner Anthony LeBlanc also made sure to note the performance of Matthews' performance as well. The youngster fell for the sport while watching the Coyotes as he grew up in Scottsdale. Perhaps he's only the beginning for hockey talent coming out of the desert.

Poor Stephen Amell, a noted hockey fan, knows that the Canadian TV ratings for Arrow are going to be terrible:

Matthews' favorite reaction might end up belonging to his mom, Ema, though. This was only after three goals. What a moment.

Unfortunately for Matthews and the Maple Leafs, they lost to the Ottawa Senators in overtime. The rookie even took the blame for missing his man on the Sens' OT winner. So it wasn't all gravy for the 19-year-old, but if it's any consolation, the result isn't going to be the thing people remember about this night.

Welcome to the NHL, Auston Matthews. Try not to hurt anyone, will ya?