After a long and painful wait, the Toronto Maple Leafs are a good hockey team and are scoring goals.
With Saturday night’s overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens, the Toronto Maple Leafs have tied their point total from last season. Much of this year’s success is attributed to the Leafs rapid rookie production rate, with large contributions from Mitchel Marner and William Nylander.
The Leafs have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs for the first time since the 2012-13 season. They even have a chance at winning the Atlantic Division but the odds are slim, especially after losing to the Canadiens again.
I’m pretty sure I forgot one rookie that’s had a rather big impact on the Leafs this year.
Oh yeah, Auston Matthews.
The kid just scored his 29th and 30th goal of the season the other night matching Patrik Laine for the rookie lead in goals in the 2016-17 season. Jeff Carter, Laine, and Matthews are all tied for 2nd overall in goals. They are only four back from the league lead in goals, which is 34 posted by Sidney Crosby.
Matthews has a pretty good chance at beating Wendel Clark’s rookie goal scoring total for the Leafs, which is set at 34. Not only does he have a chance at taking a shot at recording the most goals this league, he could also claim a franchise record. On top of it all, he’s scoring pretty nice goals. Let’s count down to his best goal of the season.