Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews wins 2023-24 Rocket Richard Trophy with 69 goals

Auston Matthews just fell short of becoming the first player to score 70 goals in 31 years, finishing the 2023-24 season with 69 goals.

Still, the American-born forward racked up his third Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer. He previously won the award in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 campaigns.

Only Alex Ovechkin has more among active players with nine.

Only eight playerz in NHL history have broke the 70-goal barrier. Phil Esposito, Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Mario Lemieux, Bernie Nicholls, Brett Hull, Alexander Mogilny and Teemu Selanne are the only players to reach the 70-goal mark.

The 26-year-old already produced the greatest goal-scoring season of the 21st century, eclipsing Alex Ovechkin’s 65-goal season in 2007-08 on April 9 when he scored his 66th of the season against the New Jersey Devils.

Matthews, playing in his eighth NHL season, has 368 career goals. He sits third on the Maple Leafs’ all-time goal list, 21 behind No. 2 Darryl Sittler and 52 behind the all-time leader, Mats Sundin.

Last week, Matthews continued to make history after scoring his 50th even-strength goal of the season, becoming the first player to achieve the accomplishment since Teemu Selanne with the old Winnipeg Jets in 1992-93.

Toronto finished the 82nd game of the season with a 46-26-10 record with 102 points.

The Maple Leafs are set to begin the playoffs with another first-round meeting against the Boston Bruins in the coming days. The schedule hasn’t been finalized as of yet, but the playoffs are set to begin April 20. Toronto won its first playoff series last year since 2004, beating the Lightning in six games before losing to Florida in the second round.