Toronto Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews 25 Goals, 25 Games

The Toronto Maple Leafs have recently lost two games in a row, which is the first time that’s happened since early December.

It has been even longer –  mid-October – since the Toronto Maple Leafs have lost back-to-back games in regulation, something which happened despite playing two of their best games of the entire season.  It’s been an incredible run, and one that has seen them win almost 80% of the points available to them, and which has helped establish them firmly as a Stanley Cup Contender and one of the NHL’s best teams.

Part of the reason for this success, likely the main reason, is Auston Matthews.

Matthews has an incredible 32 goals in 42 games so far this season, but even more impressively, he has 25 goals in his last 25 games.  He started off the season with just one goal in his first six games, and he only scored in three games out of the first 11 (though for five goals total).

Since then, he has scored at will, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are all but unstoppable. (stats naturalstattrick.com, quanthockey.com and espn.com).

Toronto Maple Leafs and Auston Matthews

The NHL is funny – if this streak started off the season, it would be all people are talking about.  But scoring 25 in 25 across 25 mid-season games is, for reasons too depressing to think about,  apparently not that big of a deal.

Matthews has 40 points during this run, which also would lead the NHL, but the players ahead of him have played between four and six more games.

His current pace during this hot-streak is 131 points and 82 goals.

Matthews has 62 goals over his last 82 regular season games, dating back to last February. In this time he has six goals more than Leon Draisaitl in five less games. He has nine more goals than Alex Debrincat in eight less games.  He has 13 more goals than any other player during this time.

62 goals in 82 games is impressive, until you realize that for about half the games it took to do so (the ones played late last season) he could barely shoot the puck because he needed wrist surgery, and additionally, the Toronto Maple Leafs all but stopped scoring on the power-play.

Also, his shooting percentage during this run – 16% – while high for a normal player, is pretty normal for Matthews.

Realistically then, over a full season, Matthews could, if he was healthier and a little luckier, score even more.  It’s crazy to think we might not have seen his best yet. 62 goals in 82 game is wild, but the current streak of 25 in 25 is amazing, especially when you consider that 62 goals in 82 game would be a top 30 all-time NHL record.

The most anyone has scored since 1992-93 (which is a season when there were 21players with at least 100 points) was in 1995-96 when Mario Lemieux scored 69 goals, and after that it’s Ovechkin with 65 in 2007-08.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have 37 games left, and Matthews will need 34 goals to hit 66 and beat Ovechkin’s career high. His goal Saturday against Vancouver moved him into 10th place all-time on the Leafs franchise leader board.

Matthews, who is also providing elite defense, is the NHL’s current Hart Trophy front runner, and has turned the conversation about the best hockey player alive into an actual discussion instead of a foregone conclusion.