The Toronto Maple Leafs have clinched the Atlantic Division for the first time in team history. However, it wasn't the only piece of history made on Tuesday night. Mitch Marner recorded his 100th point of the season, marking the first time he's reached that milestone. Auston Matthews also became the sixth-fastest player to reach 400 goals.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will now face the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the 2025 NHL playoffs. It will be the first time these two rivals have played a playoff series against each other in over 20 years. The Leafs hold a 4-0 playoff record against the Senators, so I hope they keep the streak alive and make it 5-0. I doubt this series will be as brutal as those in the early 2000s, but it will be nice for this generation to witness a true Battle of Ontario.
Getting back to Matthews, he is becoming the sixth-fastest player in NHL history to score 400 goals by doing so in 624 games. The list of those ahead of him is impressive. It is no surprise that Wayne Gretzky leads the list at 436 games to score 400 goals. Mike Bossy (506 games), Mario Lemieux (508), Brett Hull (520), and Jari Kurri (608). One name that is not on this list is Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin is now the seventh-fastest player to reach 400 goals, as it took him 634 games.
Matthews is on pace to outscore Ovechkin, and now that the 400th goal is out of the way, the focus will shift towards his 500th goal. Ovechkin scored his 500th goal in 801 games. Leafs fans know that a healthy Matthews can score 100 goals in the span of two full seasons or less, which would be 164 games or fewer. The full 164 games will bring Matthews to 788 games played if he stays healthy. If he continues to outpace Ovechkin, then Ovechkin's new record might not last very long.
Ovechkin recently beat Wayne Gretzky's regular season goals record of 894 goals. A record that stood since Gretzky retired in 1999. There is no telling how much longer the 39-year-old Ovechkin will keep playing, and what his final goal total will be, but Matthews is the most likely among active players to break Ovechkin's goals record, whatever it happens to be. There's a good chance that Ovechkin will try to become the first player to ever score 1,000 regular season goals. As for Matthews, he is on pace to score 961 goals in 1,500 games. Ovechkin is at 896 goals through 1,490 games. It will definitely be something to keep an eye on throughout the rest of Matthews' career. I hope he stays healthy enough to do it.
(All stats from hockey-reference.com)