Auston Matthews exposes and embarrasses Steve Simmons after hat trick performance

In case you missed it last night, the Toronto Maple Leafs managed to storm back against the Montreal Canadiens in their home opener to earn themselves a 6-5 shootout win. It was a rollercoaster of a game that featured plenty of offensive power from both teams.

Leafs captain John Tavares had three assists on the evening, while superstar sniper Auston Matthews scored a hat trick.

Matthews, the 2022 Hart Trophy winner as the league's MVP, took control of the game at points and willed his team to victory on opening night.

"Every year he's been here, he's improved on stuff over the course of the summer," Morgan Rielly says. "He's extremely focused. Each year he comes back, and he looks a little better, a little faster.

"With him, this year, it's obvious that he spent some time, and he looks like he's ready to go."

"He's as driven a guy as there is to be great," Leafs GM Brad Treliving said after the game. "I've had players come to me that are new to our team and the messaging has been the same: 'Wow, I didn't know how driven this guy was.'

"He talks about team success. Everything for him is about taking responsibility for wins and losses, driving the group forward. How can we better? He's special, and those players have an aura around them — and he certainly does."

So, with Matthews getting his flowers after a 3 goal performance and with the Leafs getting a win in Game 1 of 82, all should be well in Leaf Land, right?

Think again because the black cloud known as Toronto Sun reporter Steve Simmons was out in full force to rain on everyone's parade. After the game Simmons had to audacity to ask Matthews, "what he thought about getting a hat trick while not playing his best game."

Seriously...

The guy just scored a hat trick in a one goal win and Simmons wants more.

Matthews' reply was perfect, however. Stating simply, "Honestly, I don't know, Steve."

Perfect. Don't give that clown anything to write about.

You may recall that Matthews and Simmons have a beef going back a couple years when it was Simmons who revealed publicly that Matthews had been diagnosed with COVID-19. This was at a time in the pandemic when the NHL was struggling to get a handle on the virus and was doing all it could to protect its players' medical privacy. Simmons evidently didn't care and simply put Matthews' medical diagnosis out there for all the read. The pair had a tense stand off about it afterward and Simmons seems to have made an enemy for life in Matthews.