Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews scored against the Arizona Coyotes to become the fastest U.S.-born player to reach 50 goals in an NHL season.
Auston MatthewsFor the second time in his career, Auston Matthews is a 50-goal scorer in a season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs center recorded the goal Wednesday night at Mullett Arena against the Arizona Coyotes. It was only 5:01 into the game when he received a pass on the power play from Timothy Liljegren and scored from the bottom of the left faceoff circle on his first shot of the game. Matthews also scored goal No. 51 as the Leafs beat the Coyotes 6-3.
The Toronto Maple Leafs center is the first player in the NHL to hit 50 goals in 2023-24, currently leading the goal-scoring race by 12 over second-place Sam Reinhart's 39 for the Florida Panthers.
His parents were in attendance for the occasion, as Matthews, born in San Ramon, Calif., grew up and learned to play hockey not far away from the game in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The 26-year-old is now the 47th player in NHL history and the second player in Maple Leafs history to record multiple 50-goal seasons – Rick Vaive hit the mark three times for Toronto. Matthews is also the sixth American-born player to get at least two 50-goal campaigns, but what separates him from the rest is how many games it took him.
Matthews only needed 54 games to score 50 times, which is the fastest of any U.S.-born player. He beat the previous record of 62 games set by former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Kevin Stevens in 1991-92 and tied by himself in 2021-22.
The first overall draft pick in 2016 is on a four-game goal-scoring streak, with eight goals during that time. Matthews tallied hat tricks for the first two games of the streak against the Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks.
"His mindset is tremendous in terms of how he doesn't get caught up in the streaks or the numbers or all of that," Maple Leafs captain John Tavares said pre-game about Matthews, as reported by The Hockey News' Maple Leafs site editor, David Alter. "Just going out there and playing and being determined to make an impact and finish his chances."
If he stays on pace, Matthews could reach 76 goals this season, which would be the most since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny hit 76 goals in 1992-93. And if he can reach 60 goals, he'd be just the ninth player in NHL history to do so in multiple seasons.
More than a quarter of the Maple Leafs' 199 goals scored so far this season belong to Matthews. The team has the fourth-most goals-for in the NHL and the second-most goals scored by forwards.
The NHL All-Star Game MVP has drawn lots of attention as to whether his accomplishments will be enough to win the Hart Trophy as the player judged the most valuable to their team. Here are some related stories from THN.com adding to the debate: