Auston Matthews makes it very clear that setting franchise records is not enough for him
Fifty six goals. Auston Matthews has scored fifty six goals this season. The best player to ever don the blue and white made a statement with his overtime winning net drive goal Thursday night. Matthews and the Leafs will not be denied.
The Leafs thoroughly dominated most of the game, outshooting the Stars 41-18. Matthews led the way with a whopping 12 shots on Stars goaltender Scott Wedgewood, a new career high for the 24-year-old. Wedgewood, to his credit, stood on his head for the Stars, holding them in the game long after they should have been. A perfect tip by Joe Pavelski with just 2:23 left in the third sent a game that should have been over into overtime.
In OT, Matthews simply took the puck, circled back and attacked. Two Stars tried to slow him down but to no avail. Matthews used his speed and size to power past them and a strong cut across the net to tuck the puck past a sprawling Wedgewood to ice the game. Matthews was not going to be stopped on that play, and was not going to allow the Leafs to lose the game in which he'd broken the Leafs single season goal scoring record. In doing so he also broke the record for goals in a season by an American player, previously shared by Jimmy Carson and Kevin Stephens.
While his emotion was evident on the ice, after the game Matthews was all business. Breaking records clearly isn't enough for Matthews this season. He and the Leafs want more.
Reading this quote from Matthews brought back memories of the Toronto Raptors run in 2019. "All Business" was the mantra for the Raptors all the way through. If Auston Matthews is talking about there being work to be done, and working towards bigger things after breaking records that are 30 and 40 years old, its obvious the Leafs are serious. There are 11 games remaining in the regular season for the Leafs. After that, the real work begins.
| POLL | ||
8 AVRIL | 252 ANSWERS Auston Matthews makes it very clear that setting franchise records is not enough for him Is Auston Matthews going to lead the Leafs to a Stanley Cup this season? | ||
| Yes | 169 | 67.1 % |
| No | 83 | 32.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
