Scottsdale’s Matthews sets Leafs goal mark
DALLAS — Auston Matthews has the most goals ever in a single season for the Toronto Maple Leafs — and the most in the NHL by an American-born player.
Matthews, who grew up in Scottsdale after moving as an infant from California, set the franchise record with his 55th goal in regulation Thursday night, then scored No. 56 in overtime to break the American record and give the Maple Leafs a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars.
“This was Auston’s night,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “It’s much deserved and to finish it with an exclamation point.”
Matthews, who had tied Rick Vaive’s 40-year-old Maple Leafs mark of 54 goals two games earlier, broke that with his one-timer from the bottom of the circle to the left of goalie Scott Wedgewood after taking a pass back from Mark Giordano on a power play for a 2-1 lead with 1:02 left in the second period.
“I just laid it there for him and he just pounded it,” Giordano said.
The game-winner winner came when he took a pass from William Nylander
and was able to swipe the puck around Wedgewood 2:10 into overtime.
The 56th goal surpassed Jimmy Carson and Kevin Stevens, at 55 each, for the most by a U.S.-born skater. It also was Matthews’ 52nd career multi-goal game, passing Pat LaFontaine’s 51 for the most
by a American-born player before age 25.
Matthews, 24, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft, emphatically pumped his right arm when the puck got through a narrow gap between the goalie and the post on the record-setting 55th goal in the second period.
“I just saw the puck go in, and I was just so excited honestly,” Matthews said. ”There really was not that much else to it. (Giordano) made a really nice pass and he put it right in my wheelhouse, so I just tried to attack the puck and I was able to sneak it in. So it was a lot of stuff going through my mind.”
Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen swiped the puck away, but the recordbreaker was retrieved and tossed to the Maple Leafs bench by Mitchell Marner, who grew up in the Toronto area.
“It’s a hard thing to score a lot of goals in this league, and he’s made it look really easy,” Marner said.
Dallas tied it at 2 with 14:17 left on a laser shot by John Klingberg on a pass from Joe Pavelski. The Maple Leafs went ahead 3-2 on Morgan Rielly’s goal just less than five minutes later, but Pavelski tied it again on his 26th goal with 2:23 left in regulation.
Tyler Seguin scored his 21st goal for the Stars, who remained in the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot through 70 games with 84 points — two points ahead of idle Vegas.