Leafs' Auston Matthews on pace for most goals in a season since Lemieux

One day, maybe we’ll stop being impressed by Auston Matthews’ goal-scoring talents for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

But today is not that day.

On Wednesday night, in a 2-1 overtime victory over the Anaheim Ducks, Matthews hit the 30-goal mark in just 35 games this season with the game-winning tally.

That’s quite the feat when just eight players league-wide have hit the 20-goal mark so far this season, and Matthews is well on his way to having a shot at winning his third career Rocket Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal-scorer.

In a year when the Leafs have occasionally struggled for offence, Matthews has been as reliable as ever.

Matthews, of course, is a historically strong goal scorer, having hit 40 or more goals on five occasions to date in his career, putting up 329 goals in just 516 career games.

And while he’s on pace for his best season yet — his 0.86 goals per game is the best mark of his career — it’s actually got the chance to be even more historically relevant than that.

Reaching Wayne Gretzky’s 92 goals in a season set back in 1981-82 might be too lofty a goal, but he’s right on track for the best single-season mark of the last three decades.

Should Matthews play the remainder of Toronto’s games this year, he’s on pace for 69 goals in 81 games, which would tie Mario Lemieux’s total from the 1995-96 season — and top every mark since then.

Only time will tell how his pace stacks up over the rest of the season, but it’s hard to find too many qualms with the torrid start to the year for Matthews.

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