Leafs’ Auston Matthews once chirped Sens’ Craig Anderson with autograph

Check out every goal scored by the rookie phenom Auston Matthews, who lit up the lamp 44 times for the Maple Leafs.

Craig Anderson and Auston Matthews will always be connected by Matthews’ first regular-season NHL game in which the Toronto Maple Leafs centre scored four goals on the Ottawa Senators netminder.

It was a special moment for Matthews that night on Oct. 12, 2016—he did make NHL history after all—but it turns out it’s a night Anderson can also look back at fondly.

In fact, Anderson told Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch Friday that he kept the stick he used in the game as a memento and that he had the 2016 first-overall pick sign it.

“I had the stick lying around and I thought, ‘Maybe I should get it signed,’ and, the next time [the Maple Leafs] were in town, he signed it for me,” Anderson said.

Matthews didn’t merely sign his name beside a #34 though. The reigning Calder Trophy winner took a friendly jab at Anderson.

“Thanks ‘Four’ making my first game memorable,” Matthews wrote on the stick.

Anderson didn’t take offence to the chirp, especially considering Anderson and the Sens won the game—people tend to forget that fact.

“It’s probably going to be a National Hockey League record for as long as I’m alive,” Anderson said of Matthews’ four-goal debut. “It’s just kind of a cool memento and something I can giggle at with my kids. I’m not one for memorabilia. I’ve got a few things here and there, but that’s one of the few times I’ve asked another player for something.”

Anderson also likened Matthews’ message to how he plays.

“It was creative,” Anderson said. “I guess it’s kind of expected of a guy that’s that creative on the ice to be that creative intelligently. I’m not creative, so I probably would have just signed it because that’s my personality. It seems like he’s got a very creative personality. It shows with the way he plays and it shows with the way he signed it.”

Anderson is slated to get the start in net Saturday night when his Senators host Matthews and the Maple Leafs in the first Battle of Ontario of the 2016-17 season.

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