Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews scored the 200th goal of his NHL career Monday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. Matthews accomplished the feat in 338 games, the fastest since Alex Ovechkin did it in 296 games back in 2009.
He is the third-fastest player to reach that milestone among active players, and is also the second-fastest to 200 goals in Maple Leafs history, behind only Charlie Conacher (317 games). He is now tied with Conacher for 13th on Toronto's all-time goal list, and at only 24 years old.
Matthews scored the goal only 3:25 into the game with a quick wraparound attempt that slipped underneath the pads of Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen. It was his first goal of the season.
(Photo: Kevin Sousa / NHLI via Getty Images)
Putting Matthews' scoring pace in perspective
Jonas Siegel, Maple Leafs beat writer: What’s so incredible about Matthews is he came into the league and was instantly one of the top goal scorers. There was no lag time at all.
He set a record with four goals in his NHL debut, of course, and finished that year with 40 goals. That was four shy of Sidney Crosby for the league lead. Matthews has scored at least 34 goals in every one of his five NHL seasons. He’s hit 40 or more three times, including 41 in only 52 games last season.
He scores in so many different ways. Early on it was his wicked wrist shot. In the last couple years he’s added a one-timer. The wraparound, which he used for Monday night's goal, has become a weapon, too.
One thing that makes his scoring feats all the more impressive is how much of it has come at even strength. The power play has only been a moderate source of his goal scoring to this point.
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