"It's not something you can write up," Matthews said. "It was pretty special having my parents here for them to share the moment with me."
Matthews gave himself a chance to score his fourth goal with a hard backcheck that disrupted Ottawa forward Bobby Ryan's shot. The puck went wide, Toronto defenseman Jake Gardiner flipped it out of the zone, setting Matthews and William Nylander off on a 2-on-1.
Matthews finished it, making it look easy again.
"I know it's just one game but when he had the puck I was just waiting for something good to happen," St. Louis also wrote. "And after I saw he scored one early, I bought the NHL package so I could watch the game from Connecticut."
That's what Matthews can do for the NHL. He can sell the game, sell the League, and help make the Maple Leafs competitive again. He did it all in his debut. He was magnificent. It was must-see stuff.
But St. Louis made another cogent point; it is one game, and the odds of Matthews having another like it this season are slim.
Tweet from @mstlouis_26: Feels like I'm watching mite hockey where there's that one kid who's just way better than everyone else. Congrats @AM34 #easygame
Including Matthews, there are 23 active players in the NHL who have at least one four-goal game in their careers. Among them, Alex Ovechkin (3), Marian Gaborik (2) and David Backes (2) have multiple four-goal games.
Jaromir Jagr, who is third all-time with 749 goals, has one four-goal game in his career, which spans 1,629 regular season games.
So, yes, Matthews set the bar so incredibly high for himself Wednesday that eclipsing it will be near impossible.
That's not a bad thing, though. The elite players are constantly setting the bar high for themselves and excelling under the weight of it all. That's what makes them elite.
Matthews was elite in his debut. He was historic.
It's foolish to think it will always be like this for him, but if what we all saw Wednesday is an indication, Matthews will be the best player on the ice more often than not, making a hard game in a hard league look easy.