Auston Matthews on the cusp of breaking a record that he wants no part of
Auston Matthews has been on another level this season when it comes to putting the puck in the net. However, he's also been on another level when it comes to firing pucks off the iron.
Matthews has 285 shots on goal this season through his 67 games, converting on 57 of those shots, putting him on a 69-goal pace. He is also chasing down a record that I'm sure nobody wants. As of right now, Matthews has hit 16 posts/crossbars this season, per Sportsnet Stats, which puts him just 1 post behind Steven Stamkos for most posts/crossbar hits in a single season. Stamkos hit 17 posts back in 2010-11, just 1 year prior to his 60-goal campaign.
For Matthews, who has 14 games left, assuming he isn't scratched for rest before the playoffs, it seems like a foregone conclusion that he'll break Stamkos' record, not that he wants to. I'm sure he'd much rather have 16 extra goals right now, which would have him sitting at 73 goals on the season, but I digress.
After shooting a career low 12.2% last season, Matthews is sure making up for lost time, shooting a career high 20% this season. The product of Scottsdale, Arizona has 8 game-winning goals and 15 powerplay goals this season, and it currently sitting at 89 points after a 5-point outing on Wednesday in Washington.
| POLL | ||
MARS 21 | 603 ANSWERS Auston Matthews on the cusp of breaking a record that he wants no part of Is Auston a better pure goal scorer than Alexander Ovechkin? | ||
| Yes, he's doing it in a far tougher era | 409 | 67.8 % |
| No, Ovi is still the best | 62 | 10.3 % |
| Gretzky is the best of all time | 99 | 16.4 % |
| Bossy was the best! | 33 | 5.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
