"Pants so fire they had to gatekeep" "Looks like his leg is broken": NHL fans react to viral Auston Matthews image posted by Leafs

Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs caught the attention of NHL fans for an unexpected reason after the team shared an image of their captain on X. The Leafs posted the photo with the caption.

“They’re baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack,” but what followed was not about hockey.

Instead, fans noticed something strange about the picture that quickly became the talk of social media.

A Devils fan account called "The Bratt Pack" reposted the image, pointing out that Auston Matthews’ pants looked edited.

"Yo, zoom in on this Those aren’t just black pants that Auston is wearing," the fan wrote. "Lmao The social media team edited the photo and blacked out the pants he’s wearing??? They redacted his pants"

The post went viral within hours as fans began sharing their reactions and jokes.

"Poorly too it looks like his leg is broken lol," a fan said. "Pants so fire they had to gatekeep," another fan said. "he's wearing toronto maple leafs booty shorts and nothing else. the pants aren't redacted, they're drawn on," one fan said.

Fans continued to share theories and jokes about the edit.

"They coulda just chosen Nylander or Tavares or anyone else for today but they went with the guy wearing pants that they would have to censor," a fan said. "Could he have been carrying or rolling something that they needed to edit out?," another fan said. "What the hell. This makes me uncomfortable," a fan said.

The 2024–25 campaign was Auston Matthews' first as captain of Maple Leafs. He missed 15 games because of two injuries but still led the team in goals. However, his scoring slowed down in the second round against Florida, where he went scoreless in four of the last five games.

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Craig Berube backs Auston Matthews' performance

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said he trusts Auston Matthews to bounce back this season. Matthews was not fully healthy during the 2024 season. As a result, his goals saw a drop from 69 to just 33. Still, he worked hard and played well despite the injury.

"It was an off year," Berube said, via NHL.com "... He wasn't a fully healthy player, but he fought through it."

Berube said Matthews helps in many areas, not just scoring goals. He praised his defense, penalty killing and mentioned that it's not just about scoring goals.

"I do get, he is a goal-scorer ... and we do need him to score goals, but at the same time, it is a team." Berube said.

The Leafs played their first game against Montreal on Wednesday. Auston Matthews scored an empty net goal to help the Leafs win 5-2.

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Edited by nagpaltusharn25