Auston Matthews Continues to Impress for the Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews continues to dominate the NHL in goal scoring. For the second time in three seasons, Matthews has scored 60 goals. He is the only active NHL player to accomplish that feat. Not even Alex Ovechkin has scored 60 goals in multiple seasons. Matthews is on his way to winning his third Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy for top goal scorer.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had multiple 50-goal scorers in their franchise's history, but Matthews is not only the first Leafs player to score 60 goals, but he's also now the only Leafs player ever to do it twice.
Earlier in the season, Matthews was on pace for 70 goals, which hasn't happened in the NHL since the 1990s. He is currently on pace to at least flirt with 70 with eight games left in the year.
Matthews has also joined a very exclusive club of NHL players. He is the 9th player in NHL history to score 60 goals multiple times. Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky accomplished the feat five times. Mario Lemieux and Phil Esposito did it four times. Brett Hull did it three times, and Matthews joined Pavel Bure, Jari Kurri, and Steve Yzerman who accomplished it twice. What an impressive group of players to be a part of.
Auston Matthews Continues to Impress for the Toronto Maple Leafs
The 26-year-old Matthews has plenty of seasons ahead of him to try to climb higher on that impressive list.
As long as he stays healthy, there's no reason to doubt that he can score 60 goals in a season a few more times. He continues to outpace Ovechkin in goals by games played. Through 553 games, Ovechkin had 339 goals, while Matthews has 361 goals through 554 games. Ovechkin is 46 goals away from tying Gretzky's all-time goals record of 894. This generation could see that record broken and there's potential for Matthews to break it if continues to outpace Ovechkin's scoring rate.
Matthews has registered 62 goals and 36 assists through 73 games this season. Before last night's game he was on pace to finish with 68 goals and 39 assists for 107 points, which would be a new career best. He registered 106 points during the 2021-22 season. (All stats from hockey-reference.com)
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As great as the single accomplishments are, Matthews will tell you that helping the Leafs win in the playoffs is more important. Matthews and the Leafs will be entering the NHL playoffs for the 8th year in a row. Whether they enter the playoffs in a divisional spot or wild card spot is yet to be decided.