Breaking down Matthews' beauty end-to-end snipe

Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews was at it again Saturday night in Montreal, going end-to-end to bury a nasty finish top corner past Canadiens netminder Carey Price in the first period.

Of course, the shot and the goal itself were nice, but the play as a whole deserves another look due to Matthews' stellar solo effort and silky hands.

Here's a more in-depth look at the sequence.

Matthews, No. 34, starts the play in his own defensive zone, taking a pass from Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen and quickly turns up ice. The next frame is where the magic starts to happen.

With his hand-eye coordination on full display, Matthews flips the puck over the outstretched stick of the Montreal defender and proceeds to corral the puck and continue the rush.

After skating the puck through the neutral zone, Matthews temporarily loses it to Canadiens defenseman Jordie Benn only to bat the biscuit out of mid-air and back onto his tape. No big deal.

With the puck seemingly glued to his blade, Matthews then sizes up his competition and sets up for a slippery toe drag.

Executing the toe drag to perfection, Matthews slips the puck slightly to his inside and fires an absolute lazer of a wrist shot past Price for his fourth tally of the season.

Here is the play in it's entirety:

Auston Matthews gets a feed from Freddie Andersen and does some really pretty hockey things. #Leafs up 2-1.#RogersNHLLive #EndZoneCam pic.twitter.com/bNFlb3q7sY

- Rogers NHL LIVE (@RogersNHLLive) October 14, 2017

The season may be in its early stages, but after watching this play unfold, it's quite clear that Matthews is already in peak midseason form.

(Images courtesy: Rogers NHL Live)

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