Leafs' Auston Matthews has most goals in a season since Mario Lemieux
If you’ve caught even one Toronto Maple Leafs game this season, the chances are pretty good that you’ve seen Auston Matthews score at least once.
Through 77 games this year, Matthews has put up 66 goals, 13 above any other player in the league.
Having already come into the year with a career goals per game rate of 0.62 — and two years removed from 60 goals in 73 games, a mark of 0.82 goals per game — his 0.86 goals per game average is just another step up into his legacy in Toronto.
But it’s no longer his peers who Matthews is chasing — it’s history, and some of the NHL’s all-time greats.
Last night’s marker in a 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils put Matthews one goal ahead of Alex Ovechkin’s 2008-09 season, where he scored 65 goals himself. By passing that total, Matthews is now in sole possession of the best goal-scoring season by an active NHL player, and it’s also the best single-season total of any player in his lifetime.
THERE HE GOES!!!!! pic.twitter.com/2jIqZcCLWS
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) April 10, 2024
To go back to find a player with a better goal output than Matthews, you’d have to go all the way back to the peak of Mario Lemieux, who put up 69 in 1995-96 while playing with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
After having a “slow” month with “only” seven goals in 14 games in March, Matthews has six goals in five games in April and is riding a six-game scoring streak.
“The process is the same every night. I find when you overthink it and almost want it too much, it almost doesn’t go your way,” Matthews said last night of his knack for the net. “So, I just try to approach every game the same.”
With just four games left in Toronto’s season, all eyes are on the postseason race to see who Toronto might play in the first round of the playoffs.
But for now, everyone’s peeking at least a little bit at the history books to see how high Matthews can climb, assuming the Leafs keep him in their lineup and don’t opt to rest their star.
His 66 goals are tied for the 22nd-best single-season total in NHL history, with the possibility of moving into a tie for 18th place all-time with the likes of Mike Bossy, Jari Kurri, and Phil Esposito, should he score two more goals. If he hits the magic marker of 70, he’ll become one of just nine players to accomplish that feat.
The Leafs return to action tomorrow night when they host those very same Devils at Scotiabank Arena.
Puck drop is set for 7 pm ET.
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