Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs shot the puck often on Thursday and in the process made Maple Leafs history. He scored twice on 12 shots on goal, and broke Rick Vaive’s Toronto Maple Leafs’ single season record for most goals in a season. Vaive of Ottawa, Ontario, had the old record of 54 goals scored in 1981-82. Matthews tied Vaive’s record on Monday with a hat trick against the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 6-2 Toronto win, and then broke the record in a 4-3 Maple Leafs win over the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
Matthews now has 56 goals in 2021-22. He scored his record-breaking goal of the game on Thursday with a power-play goal from Mark Giordano of Toronto, Ontario and John Tavares of Mississauga, Ontario at 18:58 of the second period. Matthews then scored the overtime winner from T.J. Brodie of Chatham, Ontario and William Nylander.
The Maple Leafs are playoff bound and it is just a matter of time before they clinch a playoff spot. They have a record of 46 wins, 19 regulation losses, and six losses in extra time for 98 points. As a unit, the Maple Leafs have scored 274 goals in 2021-22. That is the second most goals scored by a NHL team all year. Only the Florida Panthers have more goals, as they have 294.
