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O Canada as to whether his goal streak will continue.
If Matthews scores the game’s first goal again Monday against the Calgary Flames, it will extend his league lead to six in that category and will be his 19th goal in as many games. And, according to NHL Stats, he’ll be the first player ever to open five straight contests with a goal.
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Saturday’s strike in Montreal tied him with 11 others who have managed the feat four times, stretching back to Billy Boucher of the Canadiens in 1923, up to and including stars such as Bobby Hull, Howie Morenz, Michel Goulet and Leafs greats Babe Dye, Sid Smith and George Armstrong.
The tournament Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Canada opened its tournament schedule by crushing Slovakia 8-0 with Fabbri posting two goals and two assists. A day later, Canada cruised to a 4-0 shutout victory over Germany.
The competition got a bit tougher after that, but the Canadian squad didn t waver and beat Finland 4-1. Before the medal round, Canada s biggest scare came on New Year s Eve against a U.S. team featuring Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews. However, a pair of goals from Domi helped Canada defeat the Americans 5-3 in both nations final round-robin contest.
Canada s first game of the medal round invoked a bit of deja vu, as the hosts trounced Denmark 8-0 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinal, Slovakia had a chance to avenge its tournament-opening loss to Canada by the same score, but the result wasn t much better for the Slovaks. Petan potted a hat trick and the Canadian side coasted to a 5-1 win, setting up a gold-medal showdown with Russia.