The NHL’s leading goal scorer has scored 49 goals so far this season, with 29 games remaining.
Since joining the NHL in the 2016-17 season, Auston Matthews has consistently demonstrated his ability to score goals. In his rookie season, he scored 40 goals, tying for the ninth-highest number of goals by a rookie in NHL history.
Throughout his eight seasons in the NHL, Matthews has scored at least 40 goals in six seasons, including the last five consecutive years. His most outstanding performance was in the 2021-22 season when he scored 60 goals and was awarded the Hart Trophy for league MVP. He also set the Maple Leafs’ single-season goals record with this achievement.
With approximately two months left in the NHL regular season, Matthews is on track to surpass his previous career highs and join an exclusive group of elite goal scorers. Currently leading the NHL with 49 goals, he holds a 10-goal lead over the next highest scorer, Sam Reinhart, who has 39 goals.
At 26 years old, Matthews has scored 49 goals in 53 games this season, putting him on pace to score 76 goals by the end of the season. This impressive pace has been fueled by Matthews’ exceptional recent performances.
In consecutive wins against the Philadelphia Flyers and the Anaheim Ducks, Matthews achieved back-to-back hat tricks. He also scored a goal in Monday’s victory against the St. Louis Blues.
Matthews’ feat of seven goals over a three-game span makes him the first Maple Leafs player to achieve this since Rick Valve in 1987. Babe Dye holds the record for the most goals over a three-game stretch with nine, achieved in 2021.
As Matthews continues his historic season, it’s worth considering what he might accomplish by the end of the 2023-24 season.
With 49 goals already, Matthews has the opportunity to have one of the top goal-scoring seasons in NHL history. If he maintains his pace and finishes with 76 goals, he would tie for the fifth-most goals in a single season in league history, alongside Alexander Mogilny, Phil Esposito, and Teemu Selanne.
Wayne Gretzky holds the record for the most goals in a single season, with 92 in 1981-82. Brett Hull follows with 86 goals in 1990-91, and Mario Lemieux with 85 goals in 1988-89.
While reaching Gretzky’s 87-goal season might be a daunting task, Matthews has consistently shown an ability to go on impressive goal-scoring streaks throughout this season.
Scoring nine goals in the last seven games since the All-Star break, including six goals in just two games, Matthews has maintained an elite level of goal-scoring. He scored at least one goal in eight of his 13 games in January, with two multi-goal games during that period.
While he may need to register a few more hat tricks to increase his pace for the season, Matthews’ current rate of scoring suggests that he could potentially have one of the top goal-scoring seasons in NHL history.