Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews becomes fastest player to reach 50-goal mark since 1995-96

In front of family and friends in his home state of Arizona, Auston Matthews scored his 50th goal of the season as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Arizona Coyotes 6-3 Wednesday night.

Matthews, who also scored his 51st goal later in the game, became the first player to reach the 50-goal mark in the 2023-24 NHL regular season.

The Maple Leafs’ forward achieved the milestone in his 54th game, becoming the fastest player to reach the mark since 1995-96 when four players accomplished the feat – Mario Lemieux in 50 games, Jaromir Jagr in 59 games, Alexander Mogilny in 60 games and Peter Bondra in 62 games.

Not only is Matthews the first player in the NHL to score 50 goals, but he’s the only player in the league to have reached the 40-goal mark, as Sam Reinhart of the Florida Panthers has 39 goals.

Along with 51 goals, Matthews has 24 assists for 75 total points this season, and is on pace to eclipse his career-high of 106 points set in 2021-22. Now in his eighth NHL season, the 26-year-old forward has 350 goals and 267 assists for 617 points in 535 career games.

It’s been a season of milestones for the native of Scottsdale, Ariz. After signing a four-year, $53 million extension that keeps him in Toronto through the 2027-28 season, the two-time Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winner scored his eighth career hat trick in the season opener against the Montreal Canadiens, then followed that with another hat trick in the next game against the Minnesota Wild.

This past week, Matthews again achieved hat tricks in back-to-back games against the Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks. He now has six hat tricks on the season, the most for any player in a single campaign since Lemieux had six during the 1995-96 season.

Matthews also became the fastest player in the Maple Leafs’ 106-year history to reach 600 points last month when he scored his 40th goal in just his 46th game of the season.

If the 2022 Hart Trophy winner continues at this pace, he will eclipse Dave Keon (365) for third on the Maple Leafs’ all-time goals list later this season. Matthews’ 350 career goals are just 70 behind Mats Sundin’s 420 for first on the all-time goals list.

With the win, the Maple Leafs are now 31-16-8 with 70 points, third in the Atlantic Division. Toronto is 8-2-0 in their last 10 games and have now won five straight. They have two more games on this four-game road trip, starting with the defending Stanley Cup champions in the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday, then the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.