Auston Matthews first to 40 goals in 2021-22

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The three stars of the week were announced on Monday and it was no surprise to see who they were as Jason Robertson, Nick Schmaltz and Igor Shesterkin were far and away the best players of the week.

Robertson received the first star for his back-to-back hat tricks this week, against Winnipeg and Minnesota. He also had a goal versus the Kings earlier in the week, giving him seven goals in three games this past week.

Schmaltz was the second star of the week as he had a seven-point game against Ottawa Saturday, scoring twice and setting up five others. It was the best performance in 10 years, since Sam Gagner had an eight-point game for Edmonton. He added a goal in his game against Colorado, giving him three goals and eight points in two games.

The third star was Shesterkin who went 3-0 with a 1.67 GAA and a .955 save percentage as he stopped 106-of-111 shots for the week with Sunday’s performance the best of the bunch as he made 45 saves in a 4-1win over Winnipeg. Shesterkin has stopped 40 or more shots on 10 occasions in the NHL and has won all 10.

There were five games in the NHL on Monday.

TORONTO 5 COLUMBUS 4

The Maple Leafs top line did it again as Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Michael Bunting each scored to lead Toronto to a 5-4 win over the hometown Columbus Blue Jackets.

For Matthews, it was his 40^th of the season as he became the first NHLer this season to hit the magic mark.

The Leafs struck for three in the first as Ilya Mikheyev with his 10, Marner with his 22^nd and Matthews scored.

The Blue Jackets came back with a pair in the second as Sean Kuraly with his ninth and Oliver Bjorkstrand with his 20^th, brough the Blue Jackets to within one after…