Auston Matthews 69 goals in 81 games, most goals scored since Lemieux in 1995-96

[VainGretzky]

Hyman had 20 goals called off this year? Prove it.



There's only four 50 goal scorers this year also.

yup but scoring was less per game that year and they only played 80 games

 

[Soul Assumption]

It looked like the only one who cared about 70 goals was Matthews himself. Definitely not his teammates. Toronto even scored on a delayed penalty. Why not just give the puck and then feed Matthews 5v4?

 

[torontoblood]

What a season.

Highest scoring season in 30 years.

Bertuzzi cost him 70 on that offside review.

You’re talking about that game in New Jersey last week? When Matthews could have had an empty net goal?

 

[KevinRedkey]

69 would be a choke if he was at that number for like 6 games or something like that. That's just not the case. 70 isn't even a 'real' milestone either. In a single season, 50 is a 'true' milestone. 66 was a milestone for being the most in the cap era (now replaced by 70). 92+ is milestone as it's the NHL record. Anything else is just another number.

 

[Divine]

You’re talking about that game in New Jersey last week? When Matthews could have had an empty net goal?

I'm talking about the goal Matthews scored but Bertuzzi was an inch offside of the far side and didn't even touch the puck.

Against Washington. I remember Ovi smiling when it was called back.

 

[The Shadow]

If he doesn’t deliver in the playoffs which I expect will be the case it really won’t matter

All the top scorers 70 plus goals have won a cup

 

[kingsholygrail]

Nice

 

[Pass the Saitl Sauce]

Best goal scorer in the league and not close but I find it also interesting to note that had Matthews scored 70, of all the 70 goal seasons he would have the lowest assist total to go with it

 

[Leafs87]

Bummer, but life goes on!

 

[Mugzy97]

Leafs more interested in getting Matthews his 70th than preparing for the playoffs... unless choking when nearing their goals is preparing.

Better to be unprepared for playoffs than not in playoffs at all I guess

 

[Flat Ronnie]

Dude, what was that from Toronto? It seemed like they could have tried harder to get him the goal.

Players finishing when he's open. Scoring on a delayed penalty lol wtf

 

[Sentinel]

Dude, what was that from Toronto? It seemed like they could have tried harder to get him the goal.

Players finishing when he's open. Scoring on a delayed penalty lol wtf

Personal records should not come at the expense of winning the game.

 

[Mr Kot]

Disappointing it ended at 69, but also good that it ended at 69, because nice number.

 

[VainGretzky]

They said on the broadcast tonight that he lead the league with 20 posts this season.

Posts don't even count as a shot on goal means nothing

 

[Frank Drebin]

I don't know his goals per game but heart but 70 really seemed like a stretch for most of the season. A late season surge made it seem more possible but ultimately it was a very tall order

 

[Signupnow]

Best goal scorer in the league and not close but I find it also interesting to note that had Matthews scored 70, of all the 70 goal seasons he would have the lowest assist total to go with it

Pretty selfish it seems.

 

[Plural]

I thought he would get it for sure.

Still, one of the best scoring campaigns in the history of NHL.

Now that season is starting to be over, will be cool to see statistic nerds and hardcore fans to start analyzing Matthews' season and how it stacks up against some other all-time great seasons. Especially interested to see how it matches up against OV -08, Pavel Bure -99/-00 and some great 80's seasons (Bossy, Kurri best seasons at least)

 

[Menzinger]

Don’t be daft on this one. It’s the difference between a great season and one for the ages.

40 goals is a 'great' season.....

 

[Ted Hoffman]

What's notable about this season for Matthews is how concentrated his goal scoring has been this season. In his best 14 games this season, he's got 34 goals. [Why 14 games? Because Matthews now has 14 2+ goal games, it's the 65th time in league history someone has 14 or more 2-goal games, and everyone else I looked at for this had at least that many as well.] If you compare that to other great (70+) goal scoring seasons of the past, those guys had similar "top-14 game" marks. OK, except for Gretzky, he had 40+ goals in his best 14 games when he scored 92 and 87. And Lemieux, who had 40 in his 85-goal season.

That's where the similarities end. Matthews 2 seasons ago had 16 2+ goal games; his best 14 games, he had 32 goals. He finished with only 60 goals. Part of that was because he only played 73 games, but in those other 59 he only netted 28. Guys who've put up 70+ have tended to still score in those other games at a ~50 goal pace; Matthews was on 39-goal pace. This season? Matthews has 14 in his other 38 games, which is barely 30-goal pace.

Those guys also tended to score a goal in 60-65% of the games they played in. Matthews only scored a goal in 41 of the 73 games (56%) in 22-23, he only has a goal in 28 of 52 (53%) this season.

I'm not saying Matthews can't get to 70+, and I'm not about to look at his 20.x shooting percentage this season and scream REGRESSION TO THE MEAN like I'm sure some will, but I am saying the way he's going about going for 70+ goals is .... definitely different from how everyone else who netted 70+ - especially the guys who netted 76+ - went about it.

Resurrecting this post:

Matthews ended up with 18 2+ goal games. Those 18 games, he had 42 goals. The other 63 games, he had 27. It was 35-goal pace.

He ended up with a goal in 45 games, meaning he scored in 55.6% of the games he played.

Let me say this here and now: what Matthews did was still spectacular. It's a top-20 all-time performance in a season. If he'd have scored like other guys in the 70+ club generally did, he probably would have been in the mid-70s. But what ultimately did him in was that he scored his goals in bunches, and when he wasn't scoring 2+ goals he wasn't scoring as many goals as he needed. Hence, my comment: how he was going toward 70+ in a season was different from everyone else had done it. And I suspect at some point he'll admit those last 2 games he was thinking about 70 too much and it impacted how he was shooting.

Still ... hell of a season. I'd like to see him make another run at 70, with some more consistency in scoring goals across the season, and see if he can get and then exceed it.

 

[Flat Ronnie]

Personal records should not come at the expense of winning the game.

The game was literally meaningless. Zero consequences

 

[Jets]

Nice

 

[Hoek]

 

[EichHart]

69 is a better number than 70

 

[blueandgoldguy]

It would have been cool to see. Oh well.

 

[Reality Check]

When McDavid also posts the first 100 assist season in decades, it seems we're entering the defense is optional period

Kudos to the Maple Leafs for finding new ways to let their fans down.