Vaive on Matthews: 'I hope he gets to 65'

TORONTO — 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 — as part of a 4-3 victory against the Dallas Stars.

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.

"It's better than if some guy came in and had a lucky year and scored 55."

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