Auston Matthews ties Toronto Maple Leafs record for goals in season

Auston Matthews owns a piece of Toronto Maple Leafs' history, hitting the 54-goal mark on Monday to tie Rick Vaive for the franchise's goal-scoring record.

The 24-year-old scored a hat trick against the host Tampa Bay Lightning in Monday's game to pull even with Vaive's single-season benchmark. Vaive's 54-goal record has stood for over 40 years, from the 1981-82 campaign (which was also, incidentally, the highest-scoring season in modern NHL history).

Matthews previously joined the Leafs' elite group of 50-goal scorers when he hit the plateau against Winnipeg on Thursday. In Toronto's 104-year history, only three players before Matthews had ever notched 50: Vaive, three times in the 1980s; Gary Leeman in 1990; and Dave Andreychuk in 1994.

Perhaps most impressively, Matthews needed just 63 games to score his 54th goal. He had already recorded the fastest 50-goal season since 1995-96. The last player to hit 50 at the same point in their season as Matthews did this year was Alex Ovechkin in 2007-08. And on the road to 50, Matthews was scoring at a blistering pace that included at least one goal in 31 of 45 games leading up to the feat.

Now he's on track to set an entirely new franchise-best in Toronto, one he could continue building on this season and maybe surpass in seasons to come.

Matthews won his franchise's first Rocket Richard Trophy in last year's COVID-19 shortened campaign, on the strength of a 41-goal showing in 52 games. He previously scored 47 goals in 70 games the year before.

He's been battling Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl to secure a second consecutive Rocket title. As Matthews sits at 54 goals, Draisaitl is behind him with 50.