Weil du nicht genug perldoc liest. Aus perlop:
Quote       Matching in list context
               If the "/g" option is not used, "m//" in list context returns a list consisting of the subexpressions matched by               the parentheses in the pattern, i.e., ($1, $2, $3...).  (Note that here $1 etc. are also set, and that this differs from Perl 4's behavior.)  When there are no parentheses in the pattern, the return value is the list "(1)" for success.  With or without parentheses, an empty list is returned upon failure.