Matthews, No. 1 on NHL Central Scouting's midterm list of international skaters eligible for the draft, had a goal in a 4-0 victory against Lugano on Sunday to extend his point streak to 11 games for Zurich in Switzerland's top professional league.
Matthews (6-foot-1, 210 pounds), a left-handed center, has 11 goals and 19 points in the past 11 games. His 23 goals in 31 games this season rank second among all players in the 13-team National League A division. Julien Sprunger of Fribourg-Gotteron is first with 24 goals in 40 games.
Sprunger, 30, was chosen in the fourth round (No. 117) of the 2004 NHL Draft by the Minnesota Wild. He never played a game in the NHL, but has scored over 420 points in 12-plus seasons in National League A for Fribourg-Gotteron.
Matthews, who has five power-play goals, 38 points and 112 shots on goal, ranks second in the league with a 1.23 points-per game average. He also has a 20.54 shooting percentage. Pierre-Marc Bouchard of Zug is first with a 1.49 points-per game average in 43 games.
Bouchard, a first-round pick (No. 8) by the Wild in 2002, played 11 seasons in the NHL with the Wild and New York Islanders. He had 110 goals and 356 points in 593 NHL games.
