Larkin: A brief history of 50 goals in 50 games
Set aside for a moment whether you’re a ’50 goals in 50 games’ purist. Let’s just soak in how staggeringly unexpected it is to have an NHL player score 49 goals in a 49-game stretch, regardless of whether the run came from the start of the season.
Before diving into questions about whether Toronto Maple Leafs’ center Auston Matthews is a “true” 50-in-50 candidate, let’s just have fun with it. No player has even unofficially hit 50 in 50 since 1995-96. Offense league-wide has reached its highest point in 26 years. We’re seeing players set franchise scoring records seemingly every night during the season’s final stretch, from Jonathan Huberdeau in Florida to Kirill Kaprizov in Minnesota to Roman Josi in Nashville to, yes, Matthews, whose 56 goals now eclipse Rick Vaive by two for the Leaf record.
So, how rare will Matthews’ company be if he scores Saturday in Toronto’s home clash with the Montreal Canadiens? Here’s a brief history of the NHL’s 50-in-50 club members, official and unofficial.
50 in 50: The Official Club
The NHL defines “50 goals in 50 games” as a player sniping 50 from Game 1 of the season. The members:
1944-45: Maurice Richard, 50 goals in 50 games
‘The Rocket’ hit the benchmark in his final game of the 1944-45 season and set what was then a single-season record for goals. No other player would match 50 in 50 for another 36 years.
1980-81: Mike Bossy, 50 goals in 50 games
We have Bossy, one of the sport’s all-time gentlemen, in our hearts as he battles cancer from his home in Montreal. He shocked the hockey world by scoring twice in the third period of his 50th game in 1980-81 en route to a 68-goal season. Due in part to his career ending via injury when he was still at the peak of his powers, he holds the highest goals-per-game average in NHL history at 0.762.
1981-82: Wayne Gretzky, 50 goals in 39 games
1983-84: Wayne Gretzky, 50 goals in 42 games
1984-85: Wayne Gretzky 50 goals in 49 games
‘The Great One’ is the most dominant athlete in the history of major team sports. Full Stop. So of course he got his paws on the 50-in-50 milestone and managed to do it faster than anyone else – multiple times. The 50 goals in 39 games came in famously spectacular fashion with a five-goal game, punctuated by an empty netter.
1988-89: Mario Lemieux, 50 goals in 46 games
Lemieux is the only forward in NHL history who has shown the ability to dominate on the same level as Gretzky. Lemieux just didn’t do it as often or for as long, but he lorded over his peers the same way. He delivered an epic 85-114-199 stat line in 1988-89, burying 50 pucks in Pittsburgh’s first 46 games and his first 44. That season included him scoring five goals in five different ways on New Year’s Eve 1988 (even strength, power play, shorthanded, penalty shot, empty net).
1990-91: Brett Hull, 50 goals in 49 games
1991-92: Brett Hull, 50 goals in 50 games
Hull’s season for the ages in 1990-91 culminated in 86 goals, the most in a season by any player other than Gretzky. Not only did Hull get 50 in 49 games that season but he went off for 36 in his final 29 games.
50 in 50: The Unofficial Club
1984-85: Jarri Kurri, 50 goals in 50 games
Unofficially, the ’84-85 Oilers are the first team with two 50-in-50 scorers on the same team in the same season. Kurri scored 50 times in his first 50 games that year but hit the mark in the Oilers’ 53rd game.
1992-93: Alexander Mogilny, 50 goals in 46 games
During a scintillating campaign in which Mogilny and rookie Teemu Selanne had 76 goals apiece, Mogliny, making magic with Pat Lafontaine, got 50 goals in his first 46 games but had missed seven, meaning he hit the mark in the Buffalo Sabres’ 53rd contest.
1992-93: Mario Lemieux, 50 goals in 48 games
1995-96: Mario Lemieux, 50 goals in 50 games
Mario’s 1992-93 gets my vote as the greatest single-season performance by any NHL player, ever. He was diagnosed with Hodgkins disease mid-season, missed nearly two months for treatment, returned and produced a final stat line of 69 goals and 160 points in 60 games. The NHL played 84 games that season, meaning Lemieux’s pace was 97 goals and 224 points. And, to circle back, that was while battling cancer! To claim he didn’t get a real 50-in-50 because he got there in Pittsburgh’s 72nd game feels ludicrous.
1993-94: Cam Neely, 50 goals in 44 games
It all came together for Neely, the prototypical power forward, in 1993-94. He was limited to just 49 total games by injury but scored an incredible 50 in a 44-game stretch, making him and Lemieux the (unofficial) second-fastest after Gretzky.
If Matthews pulls it off Saturday, he’ll join the unofficial club. He’s missed five games this season.
Which camp do you land in? Put me down for Camp Unofficial. Getting 50 goals in 50 games should count, regardless of when the feat happens on the calendar.
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