Maple Leafs’ Max Domi reacts to Auston Matthews’ 400th NHL goal milestone and Mitch Marner’s career-first 100-point season [via Imagn, IG/@max]
Toronto Maple Leafs superstars Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner hit major milestones on Tuesday night in a 4-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. Captain Matthews reached the 400-goal mark in his NHL career with a goal and an assist, while Marner notched his 100th point of the season with a goal.
Leafs forward Max Domi was happy for his teammates’ achievements and expressed his excitement after the game. He reposted a poster from the NHL’s official Instagram celebrating the special milestone on his Instagram stories.
“💯💯💯💯,” he wrote in the caption, followed by a locked emoji.
via Instagram /@max
Domi also shared a locker room selfie with Mitch Marner.
“Congrats my brother. 100,” he wrote in the caption and tagged Marner on the post.
via Instagram /@max
The Leafs opened the scoring early in the first period when Auston Matthews scored on a quick shot in front of the net. In the second period, William Nylander doubled the lead as he broke through the Sabres defense and fired a clean shot past the goalie.
Later in the second, Matthew Knies scored on a rebound, while Marner finished it off in the third, scoring on a fast rush to make it 4-0. With the victory, Toronto sealed the top spot in the Atlantic Division. They will face the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the playoffs in the first playoff meeting between the rivals since 2004.
Mitch Marner wanted to set up Auston Matthews’ Leafs milestone first
During the post-game interview, Mitch Marner admitted that hitting the 100-point mark was a special achievement for him. He was also quick to give credit to his teammates as he explained that moments like these don’t happen in isolation.
Marner then opened up about the setup on the play where he got his 100th point. He mentioned that when they had a 2-on-1, his first thought was to set Matthews up for his 400-goal milestone, but when the puck bounced back, his captain made a great pass across for Marner to finish it off.
“I knew his next goal was 400 of course. We get a 2-on-1 there and all I didn’t even think about shooting that puck at all. So um try to get it over to him he got a quick shot off it almost went in. Then you know what an unbelievable pass from him to hit me back door and luckily I was able to finish it off,” he said.
He mentioned that he was thankful for the unselfish play and happy to convert it. Marner also said how overwhelmed he was by the excitement from his teammates when he hit that mark and that their reactions meant a lot to him.