Leafs' Matthews Becomes Quickest US-born Player to Score 50 Goals
-
By Milica Zivic
- —
The Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club has announced that its highest-paid player who recently inked a four-year contract extension for $53 million for the 2024-2025 season, Auston Matthews, has broken an important record.
Namely, Matthews, the 26-year-old All-Star Game MVP who grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona, and attended Coyotes games that ultimately inspired his professional hockey career, managed to score his 50th goal during the 54th game of the season at the Coyotes’ Arena on Wednesday night.
“Trying to Be a Role Model for Kids Coming Out of Arizona”
The player, who made his debut in the League with four goals and reached a career-best 60 goals in 2021-2022, commented on his accomplishment, expressing his pride “in being from where I am”.
He also said he is trying to be a role model for
Kids coming out of Arizona to just have that hope and the belief that no matter where you’re from, if you have a dream and stick to it, it’s something you can accomplish
Matthews who had legal issues involving disorderly conduct in 2019, has put that past him and his achievement was closely watched by 20 to 25 relatives and friends in the stands, including some young cousins who also began playing hockey in the past years.
Breaking Hall of Fame Mario Lemieux’s Record
In the 1995-1996 season, Hall of Fame player Mario Lemieux scored 50 goals in 50 games. O other player managed to reach his record and score 50 goals in 55 or fewer games since then.
This makes Matthews’ accomplishment even more important. His average of 0.65 goals per game average is similar to the average of active players who have played at least 100 games, including Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin’s 0.60 average.
The Arizona-born player currently has nine goals scored in the last four games that he played.
The first overall pick in 2016 who had six hat tricks this season is also on his way to becoming the NHL‘s first player to score 70 goals, beating the records of Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny who both scored 76 goals in 1992-1993.
