In front of family and friends, Auston Matthews continues to blaze a trail that appears to be limitless.
TEMPE, Ariz. — Before the Toronto Maple Leafs took the ice at the 5,000-capacity Mullett Arena, the players all just had a feeling.
Auston Matthews was going to get 50 goals and he was going to do it at home.
In front of family and friends, that's exactly what the Scottsdale native did in a 6-3 win against an Arizona Coyotes team he grew up watching as a kid.
He didn't waste any time, either, scoring at the 5:01 mark of the first period to give Toronto an early 2-0 lead over Arizona.
Mitch Marner, who has connected on more of Matthews' goals than any other Maple Leaf, admitted after the game that he may have been trying to set him up too much in the early going. But there was just no stopping the player who has become the fastest American-born player to reach the 50-goal mark in an NHL season.
He isn't just the best player to come out of Arizona. He broke so many records that go beyond that. It's hard not to give Matthews the crown of the greatest Leaf of all time, and there's still so much career left in the 26-year-old.
"He’s meant a lot to this city so for here to get it here is pretty special," Marner said.
For good measure, Matthews scored his 51st goal of the season, increasing his goals-per-game pace to 0.94, an increase from the already impressive 0.92 he held going in.
Matthews scored his ninth goal in his last four games. None of his 51 goals this season have come by way of an empty net.
"You kind of expected him to score 50 today with the way he’s been scoring this season," Maple Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren said.
When Auston Matthews scored 60 goals during the 2021-22 season, he also won the Hart Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL's most valuable player. He became just the third Maple Leafs to ever accomplish the feat and first since Babe Pratt won following the 1954-55 season. There have been some important Maple Leafs since then, but Matthews is doing things fans of the club had not seen before.
Matthews is on pace for 76 goals. No player has scored 70 in a season since Alex Mogilny and Teemu Selanne scored 76 during the 1992-93 season. If Matthews can win the Hart at 60 two seasons ago, there's nothing to suggest why he shouldn't win it again in 2023-24 if he eclipses 70.
And if he wins two Harts, he is, if he isn't already, the greatest Maple Leaf player of all time.
You can make the case that he still needs to do it in the postseason. But in terms of individual play, there hasn't been anyone who has done anything like what Matthews is doing with the Leafs.
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