Auston Matthews’ Push for 50 Goals
Auston Matthews’ historic 2019-20 season has been well documented and needs no further explanation. What is apparent is that he was so close to hitting the 50-goal plateau when the play stopped and it’s unlikely he will ever get a chance to reach the mark.
Prior to this season, only three players in Toronto Maple Leafs history have ever had a 50-goal season. The players are Rick Vaive, Garry Leeman, and Dave Andrechyuk, the latter last reached the half-century mark in 1993-94.
We’re talking over 25 years of a Leaf player failing to reach a large milestone in goals, that’s how long it has been.
Seeing Matthews have this success and doing so with both ease and efficiency was all the more impressive. It also happened to be the year he was healthy after the previous two seasons saw him miss significant time due to injuries.
The Rocket Richard race between him, David Pastrnak, and Alex Ovechkin was exciting all the way through and looked poised to have an exhilarating conclusion.
That race, however, came to an abrupt end with Pastrnak and Ovechkin tied for the lead at 48 goals each (Matthews was right behind them at 47).
With the regular season likely over, we’ve missed out on what could have been a season for the ages. The sad reality is we have no idea if Matthews will be able to replicate this feat ever again.