Leafs fans are on cloud nine after their team has started the season 3-0-0, winning all their games in pretty convincing fashion.
Last night’s game never had the multi-goal lead that they had in the first two games, but the fact that it was against the Chicago Blackhawks and they heavily outshot them, fans are still pretty excited. What they’re even more excited about at the moment is the idea that Auston Matthews used Patrick Kane’s celebration after last night’s OT win.
We’re sorry, but we don’t think it’s true. Here’s his celebration:
This is the Patrick Kane celebration that he is commonly credited with starting:
So, there are obviously similarities. The drop to one knee, the point and the big punch at the end (Kane does also have variations were he does more punching than tapping in the lead up to the final punch). However, there are some clear differences in the celebration and it’s not the first time Matthews or a teammate has used this style celebration.
Last season, he only did it once, but Matthews did drop to a knee and point for his first career playoff goal.
Before that, as pointed out by a commenter on Reddit, Jake Gardiner used a similar celebration last season in another overtime win.
There wasn’t a punch at the end of Gardiner’s or Matthews’ original celebrations, so who knows, maybe it was an homage to a player he looked up to growing up. He had mentioned training with him in the summer and learning a lot from him, so maybe celebrating was included in that.
Fans certainly seem to think that’s the case.
