Hockey

Matthews powers Maple Leafs, Bruins pass Lightning

5 April، 2022

18 1 minute read

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Contents

Monday’s top NHL players
- - Auston Matthews (and, to a lesser extent, Mitch Marner), Maple Leafs
    - * – Uh, maybe get some fresh air or something?
Monday NHL highlights

Monday’s top NHL players

Auston Matthews (and, to a lesser extent, Mitch Marner), Maple Leafs

Well, if you griped about Auston Matthews reaching 50 goals on an empty-netter,* he delivered his next goals in the satisfying form of an empathic hat trick.

Despite being limited to 64 games compared to 70 for Leon Draisaitl, Auston Matthews really strengthened his lead in the Maurice Richard Trophy race. While Draisaitl reached 50 goals on Sunday, Matthews pushed his season total to 54, and also collected an assist during the NHL action on Monday.

Matthews has a ways to go to get to 100 points, as he’s now at 92 (54G + 38A). It’s all the more astounding when you factor in Matthews’ near-Selke-level all-around play, including remarkable discipline. (Through 398 career regular-season games, Matthews has only generated 70 penalty minutes.)

* – Uh, maybe get some fresh air or something?

Later on in this post, we’ll focus more broadly on Matthews’ Maple Leafs being too much for the Lightning to handle. First, let’s dig through a few more tidbits about Auston Matthews at 54 goals:

Those 54 goals leave Matthews tied with Rick Vaive for the Maple Leafs’ single-season franchise record.
By reaching 54 goals, Matthews already has more goals than any other player in a decade. Steven Stamkos scored 60 in 2011-12; could Matthews surpass that total, too? The league notes that Matthews is on pace for 65 goals.

At the moment, Auston Matthews is on a six-game goal streak, and a 13-game point streak. Just illustrious, possibly Hart Trophy-worthy stuff.

Mitch Marner isn’t far behind Matthews. He scored a goal and two assist during that Maple Leafs win over the Lightning during the NHL games on Monday. Overall, Marner has produced 84 points in 60 games.