Toronto Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews Jumps into Top Five
The Toronto Maple Leafs fans are not just treated to one of the greatest scorers in franchise history, but one of the top scorers in league history.
On Tuesday night, Auston Matthews jumped into the Top Five in another Toronto Maple Leafs record book by recording his 20th goal (followed by his 21st goal) of the season.
His goal against the New York Rangers gave him eight 20-goal seasons in his career to tie him with “The Big M” Frank Mahovlich for the fifth most in franchise history.
The difference between the two franchise studs is that Mahovlich needed 11 seasons to reach the mark. Matthews also passed “The Big M” late in the 2022-23 season in franchise goals when he scored his 295th of his career.
Once he reaches the mark again during the 2024-25 season, Matthews will catch Darryl Sittler for the fourth most 20-goal seasons before jumping into the top three where Dave Keon and Ron Ellis each have 11 and then chase after the leader Mats Sundin who has 13.
With his league leading 21-goals on the season the former first overall pick will now drive to 30-goals on the season where he would tie Sittler for the second most in franchise history with eight; Sunding also leads that category with ten.
Matthews already holds the franchise record for most 40-goal and most 60-goal seasons.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Can Matthews Reach The 60-goal Mark Again?
After a pair of hattricks to start the season and then a third a couple weeks later, all the buzz around Maple Leafs fandom was whether or not the Arizona native could take a run at 70-goals.
Unfortunately, Matthews had cooled off a bit after his third hattrick of the season, however the two-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner has now put together seven goals in his last five games to take the league lead in goal scoring and again has put himself on pace for more than 60-goals on the season. (stats from quanthockey.com).
If Matthews can again reach that mark, he would become the only current NHL player with multiple 60-goal seasons and just the ninth player in league history to meet the mark multiple times.
What is amazing about his scoring prowess is that he is doing the majority of his work at even strength as he leads the league in 5 on 5 goals with 14.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are back in action on Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets when they start a three-game homestand.