'I hope he gets to 65': Vaive not surprised at Matthews breaking his Leafs scoring record

Rick Vaive knew his record wouldn't stand forever.

The hometown of the Toronto Maple Leafs player to eventually surpass him was the surprise — at least until recently.

"If someone had told me 20 or 30 years ago a kid from Arizona was going to break it," Vaive said with a laugh, "I would have gone, 'Come on, you've got to be kidding."'

That's exactly what happened four decades after the fact.

Auston Matthews snapped the tie for the most goals in a season in franchise history on Thursday when he scored for the 55th and 56th time in 2021-22— including the overtime decider — in a 4-3 victory against the Dallas Stars.

WATCH | Matthews' scores 55th of season to break franchise record:

The 24-year-old drew level with Vaive's previous high-water mark of 54 goals, which was set in 1981-82 when he became the first Leaf to bag 50, with a hat trick Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"You're looking at a generational talent," Vaive said in a Friday phone interview with The Canadian Press. "I'm happy for him. I really am.

Vaive knows Matthews would have overtaken him a lot sooner if not for COVID-19.

Toronto's No. 1 centre and star sniper had 47 goals in 70 games when the pandemic brought an end to the 2019-20 regular season before netting 41 in 52 contests in the league's shortened 2020-21 campaign to win his first Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy.

Vaive had a feeling his goal record wouldn't last long a couple of seasons back when he was forwarded a video of Matthews training in the off-season.

"It was about a half an hour long. I watched it and I went, 'Holy crap. He's working like crazy,"' said the 62-year-old. "I thought, 'He's going to it do pretty soon.'

"I hope he gets to 65. Nobody's going to break that except for maybe