Auston Matthews is officially on the board. Multiple times, as a matter of fact.
With the United States' 6-3 victory over Belarus in the books, Matthews already looks to be one of the U.S.' premier players this tournament - and at the very least, their highest scoring one.
He kicked things off with an assist, he scored his first goal. And then he threw in a second one for good measure:
2nd Matthews goal pic.twitter.com/7Ht61Pwt9C
— Stephanie (@myregularface) May 7, 2016
Good lord, what a shot. That's a straight up bullet from Matthews, and hey, who else is getting rather excited around here?
Matthews' three points made him the leading American scorer this game - and, as a matter of fact, he's currently tied for the scoring lead in the entire tournament. Granted, it's early, and he's tied with five other players (including Patrik Laine), but whether he continues to at least lead his team in scoring will be something to keep an eye on.
He's not just a leader in American scoring, though: his 15:56 in ice time against Belarus was second to only Dylan Larkin in terms of American forwards. He also led all American players with an average shift length of 0:59.
He's a good one to watch.