Toronto knew they had a superstar from the moment Auston Matthews stepped on the ice in his NHL debut in 2016 when he scored four goals. On Thursday against the Dallas Stars, the fourth-year center surpa sed his previous career-high goal total, posting his 41st ofthe season off a sweet snipe past Ben Bishop on the blocker side. Matthews scored 40 in Dennis Hildeby Jersey his rookie season and followed it up with 34 and a 37 goal campaignthe next two years, but 2019-20 reminds us yet again that he is an elite goal-scorer whose name belongs atop the list with the Alex Ovechkin's andDavid Pastrnak's of the NHL. MORE:Justin Bieber taught Jimmy Fallon how to play hockey on 'The Tonight Show' Gotta see that snipe in slow mo. Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) While there are a lot of impre sive figures behind the 22-year-old's year,here are fivethings to know about Matthews' new career mark for most goals in a season. 1. On pace to blow previous best out of the water Not only has Matthews set a new career-high but he has 24 games to pile on plenty more. He is on pace for 58 tallies by the end of the season, which would surpa s each of theRocket Richard Trophy winners since the lockout season of 2012-13. Season Player Goals 2018-19 Alex Ovechkin 51 2017-18 Alex Ovechkin 49 2016-17 Sidney Crosby 44 2015-16 Alex Ovechkin 50 2014-15 Alex Ovechkin 53 2013-14 Alex Ovechkin 51 2012-13* Alex Ovechkin 32 *lockout season However, Matthews isn't a shoo-in for the award this year as Pastrnak has the same projected goal total (58 games) and Ovechkin trails the pair by one with two games in hand. 2. Home ice has its advantages Of the 41 goals scored so far, a whopping 30 have come at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto; I gue s it's fair to say Matthews likes playing at home. That equates to just over 73 percent of his goal total for the season and that's not counting practice. TRADE DEADLINE: Kasperi Kapanen and the 10 players most likely to be moved 3. Consistency is key One major factor in Matthews' succe s has been his durability; he has not mi sed a game this season (although, he did mi s the All-Star Game with a sore wrist) and more time on the ice equals more goals. But it's much more than that. No. 34 has only gone three or more games without scoring a goal twice this season: three games from Nov. 9-13 andfive games from Nov. 27 to Dec. 4. He has scored in 33 of 58 games played (57 percent) and has had three separate three-game goalstreaks (Oct. 2-5, Jan. 4-8 and Feb. 3-7). 4. Making everyone around him better Matthewsisn't the only player on the ice and he can't do it all himself. A total of 14 players have a sisted on at least one of Matthews' goals with Mitchell Marner racking up the most helpers (23), followed by William Nylander (11) and Tyson Barrie (eight). A chart showing each a sist Matthews has received is below. Player Primary a sists Total a sists Mitchell Marner 11 22 William Nylander 9 11 Tyson Barrie 4 8 Morgan Reilly 4 8 John Tavares 5 7 Zach Hymen 2 4 Andreas John son 2 3 Jake Muzzin 2 3 Justin Holl 0 2 Cody Ceci 0 1 Ilya Mikheyev 0 1 Kasperi Kapanen 0 1 Travis Dermott 0 1 Pontus Aberg 0 1 Note: these are only a sists on goals scored by Matthews. , Marner, who has the most a sists on Matthews' goals, has shared the ice forthe fourth-most minutes among skates with him at 376 minutes and 22 seconds. Nylander has played the mostwith Matthews this season (512:52), followed by Barrie (454:36) andJohn son (424:28). 5. Power-play time is at a premium Matthews has also seen succe s on the power play, scoring 11 of his goals (27 percent), and 22 points (32 percent of his season total), with the man advantage The Maple Leafs have the third-best power play acro s the league, scoring on 25.2 percent of their opportunities. Lanny Mcdonald Jersey
Toronto knew they had a superstar from the moment Auston Matthews stepped on the ice in his NHL debut in 2016 when he scored four goals. On Thursday against the Dallas Stars, the fourth-year center surpa sed his previous career-high goal total, posting his 41st ofthe season off a sweet snipe past Ben Bishop on the blocker side. Matthews scored 40 in Dennis Hildeby Jersey his rookie season and followed it up with 34 and a 37 goal campaignthe next two years, but 2019-20 reminds us yet again that he is an elite goal-scorer whose name belongs atop the list with the Alex Ovechkin's andDavid Pastrnak's of the NHL. MORE:Justin Bieber taught Jimmy Fallon how to play hockey on 'The Tonight Show' Gotta see that snipe in slow mo. Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) While there are a lot of impre sive figures behind the 22-year-old's year,here are fivethings to know about Matthews' new career mark for most goals in a season. 1. On pace to blow previous best out of the water Not only has Matthews set a new career-high but he has 24 games to pile on plenty more. He is on pace for 58 tallies by the end of the season, which would surpa s each of theRocket Richard Trophy winners since the lockout season of 2012-13. Season Player Goals 2018-19 Alex Ovechkin 51 2017-18 Alex Ovechkin 49 2016-17 Sidney Crosby 44 2015-16 Alex Ovechkin 50 2014-15 Alex Ovechkin 53 2013-14 Alex Ovechkin 51 2012-13* Alex Ovechkin 32 *lockout season However, Matthews isn't a shoo-in for the award this year as Pastrnak has the same projected goal total (58 games) and Ovechkin trails the pair by one with two games in hand. 2. Home ice has its advantages Of the 41 goals scored so far, a whopping 30 have come at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto; I gue s it's fair to say Matthews likes playing at home. That equates to just over 73 percent of his goal total for the season and that's not counting practice. TRADE DEADLINE: Kasperi Kapanen and the 10 players most likely to be moved 3. Consistency is key One major factor in Matthews' succe s has been his durability; he has not mi sed a game this season (although, he did mi s the All-Star Game with a sore wrist) and more time on the ice equals more goals. But it's much more than that. No. 34 has only gone three or more games without scoring a goal twice this season: three games from Nov. 9-13 andfive games from Nov. 27 to Dec. 4. He has scored in 33 of 58 games played (57 percent) and has had three separate three-game goalstreaks (Oct. 2-5, Jan. 4-8 and Feb. 3-7). 4. Making everyone around him better Matthewsisn't the only player on the ice and he can't do it all himself. A total of 14 players have a sisted on at least one of Matthews' goals with Mitchell Marner racking up the most helpers (23), followed by William Nylander (11) and Tyson Barrie (eight). A chart showing each a sist Matthews has received is below. Player Primary a sists Total a sists Mitchell Marner 11 22 William Nylander 9 11 Tyson Barrie 4 8 Morgan Reilly 4 8 John Tavares 5 7 Zach Hymen 2 4 Andreas John son 2 3 Jake Muzzin 2 3 Justin Holl 0 2 Cody Ceci 0 1 Ilya Mikheyev 0 1 Kasperi Kapanen 0 1 Travis Dermott 0 1 Pontus Aberg 0 1 Note: these are only a sists on goals scored by Matthews. , Marner, who has the most a sists on Matthews' goals, has shared the ice forthe fourth-most minutes among skates with him at 376 minutes and 22 seconds. Nylander has played the mostwith Matthews this season (512:52), followed by Barrie (454:36) andJohn son (424:28). 5. Power-play time is at a premium Matthews has also seen succe s on the power play, scoring 11 of his goals (27 percent), and 22 points (32 percent of his season total), with the man advantage The Maple Leafs have the third-best power play acro s the league, scoring on 25.2 percent of their opportunities. Lanny Mcdonald Jersey