The 24-year-old scored his 55th goal of the season at the end of the second period, passing Rick Vaive to claim the Toronto scorer record in one season. The 56th gave the Maple Leafs victory in overtime and set the record for most goals scored by a US-born player in a single season. Matthews has achieved both in just 66 games and has scored 49 goals in his last 50 games alone. Jimmy Carson (1987-1988) and Kevin Stevens (1992-93) previously held the record for most goals scored by a 55-year-old US-born player. -82 (which was the season with the highest scores in modern NHL history). The 62-year-old former winger knew it was only a matter of time before Matthews came for his cloak. Toronto’s first overall pick in 2016 had 47 goals before the 2019-20 season closed due to COVID-19 and scored 41 goals in the 56-game schedule shortened by a pandemic last year. 2 About “I’m happy for him, I’re really,” Vive told ESPN. “I expected him to do it two years ago. He is a generation type player. It has been 40 years since I had this record. I am just happy to be close to seeing it.” Matthews scored his first goal on Thursday with a meter from the bottom left of goalkeeper Scott Wetzwood after a pass behind Marc Giordano in a power play for a 2-1 lead with 1:02 to remains. second period. The winner came when he got a pass from William Nylander and was able to pass the elf around Wedgewood in overtime. Matthews said ahead of Thursday’s game that the possible record-breaking – after failing to do so in Toronto’s 7-6 extra time defeat to Florida on Tuesday – was not his real focus. “It’s not too much for me,” Matthews said. “I take it game by game and obviously every game I try to create attack and score and try to produce and help the team win. [Everything else] it has not been borne by me “. Vaive was the first player in the history of the Leafs franchise to score more than 50 goals, three times in the 1980s. Gary Leeman in 1990 and Dave Andreychuk in 1994 were the only others to stand up to Vaive. , until Matthews crossed the 50-goal mark for the first time on March 31 against Winnipeg. Matthews needed just 62 games to score his 50th goal, making it the fastest season with 50 goals since 1995-96. He has now set a new benchmark in Toronto, a benchmark he could continue to build this year and possibly surpass in the coming seasons. “His abilities are outrageous,” Vaive said. “He’s just crazy, how good he is with the elf and how good his shot is. I’m glad a guy like that did it because it would be different if it was someone who just had a random year and did it. [once]while it’s a guy you can probably count on to get there or close every year. “ Matthews continues to lead the NHL on goal and is well on his way to winning the second consecutive Rocket Richard Trophy of his career. Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl was Matthews’s closest rival for the prize, coming in with 50 goals on Thursday. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
